Showing posts with label Errol Lobo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Errol Lobo. Show all posts
Happy 80th Birthday Amitabh Bachchan: Theatre owners recall the Don of silver screens
8:24 AM
Bella Jaisinghani (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 11, 2022)
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.
Himalayan Rally founder & owner of Liberty Cinema Nazir Hoosein passes away
7:41 AM
Bella Jaisinghani (BOMBAY TIMES; May 14, 2019)
Mumbai: Nazir Hoosein, veteran motor sport administrator and owner of Liberty Cinema on Marine Lines, passed away in Bombay Hospital on Sunday night. He was 78.Hoosein’s wife of 29 years, Mrunal Gole, said: “He was suffering from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which caused his lungs to become weak. He will be cremated at Chandanwadi at 9.30am on Tuesday after our daughter Aranka returns from the US, where she is working. It was his wish to be laid to rest this way.”
Hoosein, former vice-president of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), lived on the fifth floor of the cinema building, an Art Deco landmark. He was instrumental in starting the Himalayan Rally as the first president of the Himalayan Rally Association. He was also head of the Motorsport Association of India and former president of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India. He had been chief steward in the World Rally Championship, steward at Formula 1 races, and a World Motor Sport Council member.
His wife said she would remember him for his passion for motor sport, which he cultivated from an early age, aside from his disciplinary nature. The announcement of Hoosein’s death came from Shrikant Karani, director of Sportscraft, which organises motor sport events.
Staff at Liberty Cinema also recalled Hoosein’s perfectionism. Administrative head Errol Lobo kept the theatre closed on Monday. “I have been working here for 22 years but there are others who’ve been here longer. Liberty Cinema was founded after India’s Independence in 1947. In fact, that is where it derives its name. It started as a dedicated theatre to screen Hindi pictures given that Metro theatre nearby would focus on Hollywood movies. Hoosein carried forward his father Habib’s legacy and also diversified into multi-cultural events, apart from allowing Kashish, the LGBTQ film festival, to flourish at Liberty,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
Liberty gets back into business on December 23 with Dangal
7:53 AM
The art deco theatre is welcoming Hindi films back into its fold after a four-year hiatus
Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 9, 2016)
One of Mumbai’s last artdeco theatres, Liberty cinema’s decision to stop screening Hindi film coincided with the release of the curiously-titled KLPD (Kismet Love Paisa Dilli). “The film released on October 5, 2012. For the 3:30 pm show on Sunday, 20 people showed up out of which 10 walked out. We stopped all shows after that as theatres were protesting the imposition of entertainment tax by going on a bandh from October 6. The bandh was a flop and everyone returned to work but we remained shut,” Errol Lobo, Administrative, Liberty Cinema, informs Mirror.
In the four years since then, Liberty has hosted “content-rich” events like stand-up comedy, live act play, and retrospectives, including a preview of the third NH7 Weekender in September, 2012, followed by a film-and-music tribute to Fearless Nadia, featuring Australian percussionist/composer Ben Walsh and performed by Orkestra of the Underground, in November.
Royal Turds featuring the comedy collective AIB arrived in 2014, and, more recently in August, a Werner Herzog retrospective was screened as part of Osianama film festival.
Now, armed with a state-of-art projector, sound system, a silver screen and a POS (Point Of Sale) setup for everything from tickets to popcorn (hail cashless economy), Liberty is ready to welcome back Hindi films with Dangal which will hit the marquee on December 23.
“We are installing a projector with 33000 lumens. It is way above the highest one in any city multiplex which is around 28000 lumens,” shares lyricist Irfan Siddiqui, whose RG Studios has joined hands with Sohel Kazani’s Cineasia Films to “revive the single screen experience for the generation that has grown up watching films at multiplexes”.
Sohel’s father Firoz Kazani was the General Manager at Liberty for 30-40 years before he passed away. When he and Irfan took their idea of sprucing up the theatre and make it a one-stop shop for entertainment to Nazir Hoosein who owns Liberty, he readily agreed.
“The radius of around 10 km around it is filled with college kids who have no connection with single screens. We want to give them a new experience. You don’t see this kind of architecture anymore,” Irfan explains. Enquiries about the uncomfortable wooden seats are met with a surprised, “People have commended us for not changing the seats. The soft cushions in multiplexes give them a backache. The push-backs in Liberty were imported from the US in 1947. Today, even old patrons with walking sticks don't complain of back ache after a three-hour film," Lobo smiles.
There are also plans to screen the Russian film, The Flight Crew, which ran to packed houses in its home country upon release in April. Shaad Ali’s Shraddha Kapoor-Aditya Roy Kapur-starrer OK Jaanu is lined up for January. Ravi Goswami, executive producer of RG Studios, says, “We will be very choosy. The films have to be meaningful and not necessarily star-driven. For instance, Pink and Madaari were fantastic movies. Programming is a last minute detailing but we are looking at 4-5 shows a day. We may also have two movies playing at some times.”
Why the iconic Liberty Cinema won't screen films for Mumbai Film Festival
1:53 PM
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 3, 2014)
The Mumbai Film Festival which opens on October 14 has changed its venue at the last minute. Liberty Cinema, which was one of the main screening centres so far, will not exhibit the festival entries this year. Reason: It could not arrange a 2K digital cinema projector, sourced from Delhi every year.
A source told Mirror that the theatre management couldn't get octroi exemption on time, which increased the cost of transporting and using the machinery.
"Now, the organisers have booked six screens in Cinemax (Infinity Mall) and five in PVR (Citi Mall). There's one in Juhu's Chandan cinema," says a source.
This means guests too will be shifting base from SoBo to the suburbs. The dignitaries will be hosted by a Juhu five-star hotel.
Confirming the same, festival director Srinivasan Narayan said, "We were in talks with Regal cinema but things didn't materialise. Liberty is a great venue, very well-maintained, but it's not working out this year. Now, the festival will take place in the Andheri-Juhu belt."
When we asked if MAMI will lose patrons following the move to the other side of the city, he reasoned,"Those who value good cinema will travel anywhere for it. People go to Cannes and Berlin, don't they? So why not travel from Colaba to Versova?"
Liberty's manager, Errol Lobo, however maintained that he is not aware of this change in plans. "I haven't been told anything so far," he said.''
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