Not shutting down Gaiety Galaxy, it was closed for upgradation: executive director Manoj Desai

Mumbai: Manoj Desai, the executive director of Mumbai's Gaiety Galaxy cinema, has denied reports that the iconic theatre has been closed permanently owing to low audience turnout.

There were media reports stating that the abysmal performance by two big-ticket Eid releases -- "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan", starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, and Ajay Devgn's "Maidaan" -- played a role in the theatre's shutdown.

Desai, however, said the theatre, a part of Bandra's G7 multiplex, was only closed for three days for upgradations.

"It's a stupid rumour, I don’t know where it started from. We had closed down for just three days from April 19 as we had to set up the latest projection and screen. Since the films were not doing well, we thought of utilising the time to upgrade the cinema hall.

"From the coming Friday, we'll have regular shows. We'll screen 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' in Galaxy and the new released film ('Ruslaan') in Gaiety. The idea behind this was to provide a cinematic experience to people," Desai told PTI.

The Gaiety Galaxy cinema is popular among the masses and has been a hotspot for many Bollywood stars including Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, and others to promote their movies.

The cost of a movie ticket ranges from Rs 130 to Rs 150, while the popcorn and snacks cost Rs 30 and Rs 50, respectively.

Gaiety and Galaxy was originally a theatre for performing arts and was later converted into a movie theatre 52 years ago. The first movie to be screened at the cinema hall was Hema Malini-starrer “Seeta Aur Geeta”.

Earlier, there were three theatres -- Gaiety, Galaxy and Gemini -- and four more screens were added -- Glamour, Gem, Gossip and Grace -- were added when the multiplex scene happened in early 2000. The seven cinemas comprise the G7 multiplex.

"In Gaiety, we’ve 972 seats, Galaxy has 818, Gemini has 238, Gossip has 105, Glamour and Gem have 46 and 47 seats,” Desai informed.

Unlike last year, when films like “Pathaan”, “Gadar 2”, “Jawan” and "Animal" lit up the box office, Desai lamented the lacklustre run of movies at the box office in 2024.

“2023 was a great year for Bollywood and exhibitors but 2024 has been dull. We never thought ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ and ‘Maidaan’ would not do well. Ajay Devgn is an action hero, people like watching him in ‘Singham’ franchise and ‘Drishyam’ kind of films. People didn’t like both the films. The situation is not good,” he said.

“There have been smaller films that did well like ‘Shaitaan’, ‘Laapataa Ladies’, ‘Madgaon Express’ and ‘Crew’. Surprisingly, ‘Fighter’ was a beautiful film but not many people came to watch it, I believe that it has been an overdose of war movies. ‘Yodha’, ‘Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya’, 'Do Aur Do Pyaar', 'Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2', didn’t do that well," he added.