Mumbai: Old-time residents and office-goers of Worli still remember the triplet cinema halls named Satyam, Sundaram and Sachinam where they enjoyed several movies in the 70s and 80s. Time took a toll of those theatres and they closed down around nearly 25 years ago.

Now the BMC has proposed to delete the cinema hall reservation of the site at the behest of the present owner and has even received objections from the public. The owner of the theatres says there are other halls like PVR in Phoenix Mall and Inox inside Atria Mall which Worli residents can visit and thus will have minimal impact on the public.

The cinema theatre has been closed since the year 2001, with the building demolished in the year 2010. BMC said that a deletion in reservation had been requested by Grasim Industries Limited "which is a lessee for 50% share of the said plot leased out by BMC." It made a representation on June 28 to "delete the existing amenity of cinema theatre shown in sanctioned Development Plan 2034 on said plot."

The same will happen only by following the due process of law, a BMC official said. The civic body last month invited objections or suggestions regarding this proposed modification to be addressed to the office of the chief engineer (Development Plan). The current approved plans for the plot include two proposed theatres, with full CC issued. However, no occupation certificate has been granted as of yet, said a BMC official.

A part plan showing the proposed modification was also made available for public inspection at the office of the chief engineer (Development Plan) in G/South Ward and the deputy director of town planning at Azad Maidan. The BMC said that it has initiated the deletion process for the designated theatre amenity, covering 4603.13 sq m or 1.1 acre on the specified plot. This change has been sanctioned through an Improvement Committee Resolution dated Sept 23 and Corporation Resolution dated Oct 3 under Section 37(1) of the MRTP Act, 1966.

However, the civic body has received a handful of objections to the plan. Among them, a resident of Worli, Santosh Gupta, has pointed out that cinema halls like PVR and Inox are too far and economically unaffordable for the common Marathi manoos. Nearby theatres like Geeta, Prakash and Lotus too have closed down.

Gupta has urged that the site's reservation status for cinema hall be left unchanged, and Satyam, Sundaram and Sachinam be revived, and priority be accorded to screening Marathi films in this locality. He said parts of Worli comprise Girangaon, the former mill land area, and the locality is dominated by 70% Maharashtrian residents who have few options for entertainment.

"Most people called these theatres Satyam Shivam Sundaram because they were only familiar with the Raj Kapoor movie! They had to be reminded that it was Sachinam not Sundaram. I remember one of the first movies my colleagues and I saw there was 'Sawaal' when we worked at Band Box House nearby. It was after our Saturday half-day. It was a nice theatre complex and if I am correct, one theatre was smaller than the other two," recalled Sunita Ajwani, a retired accountant from Khar.