A diminishing breed of single screen owners and managers today remember the Shahenshah’s reign as the high noon of cinema. TOI spoke to exhibitors in Mumbai, Kolkata and Belgaum who recalled the frenzy when an Amitabh movie came up for release.

Manoj Desai, executive director of G-7 Multiplex (Gaiety-Galaxy), Bandra, and Maratha Mandir, Mumbai Central, says, “The public went mad, especially for the films he made with Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra and Prakash Mehra. They would buy tickets for multiple shows and watch back-to-back.”

Desai produced the star’s ‘Khuda Gawah’. Azam Patel, manager of Nishat Talkies near Nagpada, describes a line of 15-20 halls in south Mumbai named Roshan, Gulshan, Moti, Alankar, Shalimar, Super, Alfred, Royal, etc, in an era when watching films required entry into an auditorium. “At each of them, long lines unfolded, all shows were packed to capacity,” he said.

Amit Singh, manager of Hindmata Gold, Dadar, remembers teary-eyed audiences exiting shows of ‘Baghban’. “The next batch of spectators would notice this too. This is how word spread about Bachchan’s extraordinary performance,” said Singh, who as a student made multiple rounds of halls in his native Jaunpur before he bagged tickets to ‘Mohabbatein’.

Manager Errol Lobo of Liberty Cinema said, “When ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ released, queues stretched right up to Marine Lines station. We would ration two tickets per person to make sure all who had waited for hours got to see the film. Police kept vigil to ensure there was no black marketing.”

The scene was replicated in other cities. Avinash Potdar, owner of Nartaki theatre in Belgaum, said, “It was a golden era for exhibitors. People would bring bedrolls and camp outside the hall day and night till they got tickets.”

His nephew Nitin said, “First-time viewers like me would be baffled when Amitabh would start to say in ‘Kaalia’, ‘Hum jahaan khade hote hain’ and the entire hall would chorus, ‘Line wahin se shuru hoti hai!’ We heard only part of the dialogues, the rest was drowned out in whistles, catcalls or choruses!”

Kolkata has a special fascination for its “Jamai Babu”, said veteran producer-distributor Krishna Kumar Mangla of Bijoli Cinema who is known as Lalaji in the trade. “Amitabh started his career in Kolkata and he is also married to a Bengali, Jaya. I remember that two theatres Paradise and Orient had released Shakti. They are located barely 200 metres from each other. In both places, mobs were beating down the ticket windows demanding seats, and ‘maara maari’ broke out,” said Lalaji.

Niloufer Dubash, who owns Paradise cinema in Mahim, was surprised when scarcely anybody left the hall to buy refreshments during the interval of ‘Paa’. “People were stunned by his performance and would not even step out for popcorn. We made a good sale of tickets although the food counter sales suffered,” she laughed.