The collapse of India's touring talkies has been great and swift, for two interlinked reasons
An ancient lorry was parked alongside the tent. On its cab was a poster for the films being screened, and on its hood was a loudspeaker to advertise them to the many potential viewers who might be unable to read. When a film projector mounted on its flatbed shone its light through holes lined up between the truck and the tent, the silver screen suspended in the middle of the marquee came alive with image and sound. Tickets cost 10 rupees .
India produces some 2,000 feature films—in dozens of languages—every year, far more than any other country. About a third find theatrical release. The rest go straight to television or online, or just sit around in cans, says Amit Khanna, an industry veteran and the author of “Words. Sounds. Images: A History of Media and Entertainment in India”. There are thriving industries dedicated to making movies in Bengali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and other languages.
Cinemas, as much as the films, are part of this mythology. Satish Kaushik is an actor, director and producer who grew up in west Delhi in the 1960s and 1970s. Even today he can reel off the names of his favourite movie halls, fondly remembered like old girlfriends: “Naaz, Liberty and Filmistan where I lived; Rivoli and Regal were close by when I was in school; Palace, Amba, Alpana when I was in college”.
When Mr Torgovnik visited Pusegaon 20 years ago, there were 11,692 cinema screens in India, plus another 1,400-odd touring talkies. Today there are around 8,000 permanent screens—as many as 1,500 shut just during the pandemic—and only 52 travelling cinemas. Amar Touring Talkies, whose name means “immortal”, is long gone.
Mr Chaudhary started his company in 2015 and has since set up 37 moving screens seating between 100 and 250 people. He is on track to open 100 in the short term. His goal is 3,000 screens. A quarter will be in cities—especially at railway stations—and the rest will go to underserved areas, including some of the most remote.
PictureTime’s tickets are cheap, at between 30 and 70 rupees, compared with an average ticket price of 191 rupees at’s multiplexes. Mr Chaudhary argues that 3,000 hundred-seater screens selling tickets for 70 rupees and operating at just 30% capacity could add as much $122m to India’s annual box-office collections.
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