Metro Cinema
5 Jawaharial Nehru Road,
Kolkata
5 Jawaharial Nehru Road,
Kolkata
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The Metro Cinema was a project of MGM to promote their movies in Kolkata (Calcutta). It was the first of two cinemas to be designed in India by the noted New York based (Scottish born) architect Thomas Lamb, the other being the Metro Cinema in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1938, again for MGM.
Lamb drew up plans for this Metro Cinema in 1934 and it opened in 1935. It was built on the site of an earlier cinema and utilised some of the original walls.
MGM continued to operate the Metro until 1972 when they sold out to a local exhibitor and it now screens major first-run Hindi movies. In recent years it has undergone extensive restoration and is one of the finest examples of Art Deco in India.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Thomas Lamb also designed the deco styled Metro in Cairo, Egypt. Apparently it’s not far from the Cairo Museum. I am going to try to find and photograph it when in Egypt this Fall. According to theatre organ specialist Tom DeLay, it even had an organ, which may still be in the theatre, as far as he knows.
The Metro Cinema, Calcutta is almost identical to the Metro Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia (Architect;Thomas W. Lamb). To see a photo of the Metro, Adelaide go to; /theaters/1588/
Gary;
I have just added the Metro Cinema, Cairo to Cinema Treasures
Here is a 1945 photograph of the Metro Cinema, Calcutta:
View link
I have walked by the Metro in Calcutta many times but have never been inside. The Deco facade is a landmark on busy Chowringhee.
Unfortunately, the Metro seems headed for radical alteration. The facade, which I saw in rundown condition a few months ago, will apparently be retained. Story in Calcutta ‘Telegraph’:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120627/jsp/calcutta/story_15659819.jsp