Preserving Single-screen Theater Memories

Single-screen theaters are being pulled down across the country. Hemant Chaturvedi's mission is to photograph as many as possible before they disappear. His current tally is close to 1,000 cinemas, spread over 800 towns

- Murali Menon

Hemant Chaturvedi, it would seem, revels in shining a light on people frequently left in the shadows or arriving at places that have been left behind. After turning his back on the Hindi film industry and television where he was a highly regarded cinematographer eight years ago, he photographed British-era cemeteries across India, made a documentary on veteran cinematographers (Chhayaankan, 2021), captured 55 retired faculty members for a portrait series on the 150th anniversary of his alma mater, Mumbai's St. Xavier's College, and then, there's this ongoing, pan-Indian single-screen theatre project that is the subject of our discussion over a video call. "Yes, it would seem that I'm the guy, you know, racing the demolition team or the Grim Reaper, so to speak, to a particular place.

But it's not deliberate, it just happened, this gravitating towards people or places that are on the brink of erasure," says Chaturvedi who has filmed, among others, Company (2002), Maqbool (2003). and Brothers (2015) as also, shows like Rendezvous with Simi Garewal and Kaun Banega Crorepati.