Alipurduar gets movie hall after 2 decades, single-screen cinema to open on Friday

As a festive gift for cinema lovers, a new single-screen cinema hall is set to open in Alipurduar town on Friday, after nearly two decades.

The cinema hall, an initiative by local businessman Arindam Ghosh, will open in Sovagunj on Samuktala Road, opposite the town's bus terminus.

Residents are excited about the opening, even though the facility is not a multiplex. The fully air-conditioned hall has 103 comfortable seats.

Alipurduar once had four cinema halls, which supported a range of livelihoods. Many shops operated in front of these halls, while many people depended on the businesses and activities associated with them.

However, the town has been without a cinema hall for nearly two decades.

Currently, film buffs of the town have to travel to Cooch Behar or Falakata to watch films on the big screen.

Residents, who have been demanding a cinema hall in the town for a long time, appreciated Ghosh's initiative which comes at a time when single-screen cinemas across north Bengal are struggling to survive.

“I have not thought about profit or loss. In our younger days, I used to watch films with friends. But now, there is not a single cinema hall in the town, and people have to travel to other places to watch movies. I felt for the cinema lovers here and decided to take this initiative. I hope people will enjoy the facility. There is also an arrangement for advance online booking of seats,” Ghosh said.

Subrata Sarkar, a cinema enthusiast from the town, welcomed the development.

“This is great news for me. After such a long gap, the town will finally have a cinema hall again. I hope people will visit the hall instead of travelling to places such as Cooch Behar and Falakata to watch films,” he said.

The facility will also have a café for visitors.

Ghosh said the hall will screen five shows daily, with a different film scheduled for each show.

Ahead of the inauguration, tickets for the two afternoon shows scheduled for 3pm and 6pm on the opening day had been sold out.

Few tickets were available for the other three shows, though they were expected to sell out within the next 24 hours, he said.

“We will offer the audiences a choice of movies in different languages and will run English, Bengali and Hindi films,” added Ghosh.