Central Street

 

Gandhinagar

 

Kempegowda Road

 

While theaters are closing down, new ones are coming to Kempegowda Road

Subedar Chatram Road

 

Yeshwantpur

SC Road

Sanjaynagar Main Road

S C Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release.

If there's a good movie release, the handicapped (and the aged) blackmarket ticket sellers manage to make a few bucks. Today's bigger draw seems to be a movie called Prem Kahani. With stiff competion from Shivarajkumar's Bhagyada Balegara.

Kempegowda Road

The original Raj The Showman

Down but not out: A transistor radio!

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release: Raj The Showman.

It's the biggest release in Gandhinagar in a long time. Raj The Showman, stars Dr. Rajkumar's son Puneet and his fans are out in full strength. So are the cops. The theater is cordoned off and regular black market ticket sellers wait at a safe distance. College students wait across the road, on the pedestrian overbridge and around the roadside cigarettewallas for the gates to open at 10.15am.

And here's Puneet, the Chikka Showman, doing a Depp.

SC Road / 6th Cross Gandhinagar

Show Over

Friday Sandalwood Special: Movieland Theatre is getting a makeover or is being demolished.

Click here for more Sandalwood related pics. 

1st Main, Kalasipalaya

Apply glue

Crumple

Paste

Sandalwood Friday Release Series: Sticky Fingers

Finally caught up with the guy who does one of the most important tasks ahead of a Sandalwood Friday release. For the full (and ongoing) series of life around Sandalwood, click here. 

4th and 5th Mains, Gandhinagar

Sandalwood Special: Dr. Raj.

Pictures of Dr. Rajkumar, the biggest star to come out of Kannada cinema, decorate almost all the mobile generators and vanity vans (used for outdoor shoots) parked in Gandhinagar.

And this picture was clicked outside Dr Rajkumar International Hotel. The hotel's location is perfect - in Gandhinagar aka Sandalwood.




The doorman outside Dr Rajkumar International Hotel. His name is Kamal Raj and he's from Anantpur, in AP. He couldn't speak or understand any language except his mother-tongue - Telugu! He's lived in Benglur for 3 years working as security guard at various places. When I spoke to him, I realised that a good smile is all it takes to overcome any language barrier.

The above pictures were modified using a beta release of a fun software called Poladroid. Check it out here.

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Hanumanthappa Road, Gandhinagar

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release Series: 
Character Artists Outside Namma Theatres - The Snake Charmer

This guy is a charmer and not just of snakes. Every Friday, the day movies release and the fans hit the streets of Gandhinagar, he mesmerises them with his show that begins at 9am outside Sam's Fashion, opposite Sukh Sagar and National Market. 

He draws in the crowd with stories about how he took his Cobra personally to visit Sandalwood star homes to bless them just before a movie release. The star is usually the one who is having a release that week much to the delight of the fans. 

With a snake hidden in his basket, he engages the crowd with stories of the captive reptile's miracles and roles it has played in movies. He also uses props like pigeons, colourful seeds (blessed ones again) which he hands out to people, to keep the audience glued to his show. 

Once the audience is starry eyed with stories about how stars became stars and made their crores with reptilian blessing, he makes his few rupees blessing the audience. 

But the most interesting part of the performance are the stories around the snake he weaves, before he reveals it to the audience. The climax. (He didn't allow me to photograph the snake - he said that my eyes would be go blind if I looked into the snake's eyes with my camera)

I have seen his show thrice and each time he had a different performance. With his charming way with words and innovation, he would most probably be able to write better scripts than the multiple copies of the same violence filled scripts being dished out these days.   

 

Another character artist found outside Gandhinagar theatres - Dasappa

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

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Kempegowda Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release:  'Hat-trick' Hodi Maga. 

The gang wars and related slayings of last month has got the Government getting tough with rowdyism and its glorification on the silver screen in Benglur. 

The fightback started with an 'encounter', then the Sunday market where the favorite weapons of 'rowdy-sheeters' and Sandalwood stars alike - the choppers and knives, was targeted. And last week, the censor board got tough with the name of this Friday's release - Hodimaga (Hit him - a name inspired by a 'hit' song) . Following trouble with the censor board, the name of the movie was cleverly changed to 'Hat-trick Hodimaga' (it's cricket season + the hero is also known as the Hat-trick Star for his string of hits).   

However, the controversy  is probably welcome for the producers. Fans of Shivrajkumar were present in full force to lap up the tickets outside Sapna for the first-day first-show. 

Also present in full force were the usual black marketeers and in Gandhinagar, black marketeers are no longer the taporis that movies and advertising stereotypes. They are mostly old men and women who live on the street in this part of town or handicapped. Sometimes even the cops turn a blind eye. 

However, the theatre staff do not look at the black-market ticket sellers kindly. They are only allowed to buy a set number of tickets. This poor old man was shooed away when he went back to buy more tickets. 

And here's a frail old man selling the crispest snacks to the fans who have come early to get tickets and soak the excitement of a Friday release. I hope his chaklis are a Super hit!

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

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OTC Road - Chickpet Stretch

  Time Travel. Now playing at Vijayalakshmi Talkies, Chickpet

Old Taluk Catchery Road or OTC Road has a special place in Benglur's short history. It was what South Parade or MG Road was to the Cantonment. It stretched from Cottonpet to Corporation (George Oakes Building) and here in Chickpet, it's known plainly as Chickpet. The oldest surviving theater in this part of town is the Vijayalakshmi Talkies. And if you are a Dr Rajkumar fan who loves to see his larger-than-life presence on a big screen, this is where you should go. This week you can take a trip back to 1985 and watch the movie Dhruva Taare. Time travel is cheap too. A front row seat will cost you Rs 21/-; balcony: Rs 30/- The poster outside the theater says that the movie will be preceded by the 'Indian News Trailor'! When was the last time that was ever played in a movie theater?

The Which Main? What Cross? Exhibition F&B, Papanna Street, St Marks Road. Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

30 select photographs from this blog are on display until May 31st '09. If you happen to be in that part of town, please do walk in look at their 'Art Wall'.

     

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Kempegowda Road + SC Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release.

What theatres are to malls, they are to Majestic too. A good Friday Release ensures that the mall or Kempegowda Road is full and the local economy is rolling. 

These are three people from Majestic who are hoping that this week's release will bring in the crowds. 

The picture postcard seller is a regular outside Santhosh. He's also a barometer about what's hot. According to him, the fastest selling postcards  in his collection is that of Darshan, also called the Challenging Star or Knockout Star.

Rubbing shoulders with him, outside Santhosh, is Astrologer Ramakrishna who takes the early morning bus from Bagalur. That's a tiny Kannada and Telugu speaking town just across the border in Tamil Nadu. Today is Friday and he is here earlier than usually to catch the fans who wait for a long time outside theaters. The swastik on his forehead acts as an irresistible advertising.

And finally there's the man selling Hello Cinestar outside today's big release - Yagna.

Shubh Labh.   

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S C Road, Gandhinagar

There's three hours to go before Sudeep's latest film 'Veera Madakari' opens and Kapali Theater in Gandhinagar, the heart of the Kannada Film Industry is House - Full. That's sad news for a fan who woke up late, but good news for the producer, Dinesh Gandhi, as you can see from the garland on the House-Full signboard. 

However, if you are die-hard fan of Sudeep, or Anna-avaru as Nagesh with a kerchief around his neck calls him, you would have reached Kapali at 5 am to make sure that you have the ticket for First-Day First-Show. 

It's not just die-hard fans who have turned up early. This old lady and the man in crutches were here too. They were peddling few "Gandhi-Class" tickets for Rs. 80 to latecomers and boys who have skipped classes to catch the morning show.

 
  

But it's not just college boys who have come to catch Sudeep's new offering. Peanut and watermelon sellers are there too, to help cool, people of all ages waiting impatiently for the movie to start. 

And here's something that I picked up from outside the Kapali Theater - empty boxes of exposed picture negative that was used for a Kannada movie called Police Story Part II (Can No 32288 5/7 that was used on 29/09/06).  

And finally, here's the star actor-director himself - Sudeep. With the mandatory handheld weapon of the angry young Kannada star.  

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