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Karachi has some really old cinema houses. You cannot put a date of construction on them, because a couple of stone-made cinemas that you see on Napier Road or roads intersecting it do not exactly let you know their age, but there are septuagenarians and octogenarians in this neighbourhood who vouch for these movie theatres' existence ever since they gained consciousness.

The thing is that these cinemas are to date screening films almost on a daily basis. The kind of movies they are showing is a different issue altogether. Naturally, the film business involves big bucks. It is no mean feat to mount on the projector quality, big budgeted and brand new Hollywood or Bollywood projects. These facilities cannot afford that. As a result, they show what they find inexpensive and having a reasonable fan base.

Kumar Cinema is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, theatres in Karachi. The dental clinics outside its entrance and the dark green colour that the building is layered with may not make it look like something related to showbiz. It is only after going through the hoarding or the poster promoting the currently running film that you realise it is not a residential structure. The wooden, somewhat creaky doors to the main hall are one of the indications that it has not been restored at all. Why would it need to be restored and who would do that?

The debate as to which cinema (Nigar, Kumar and Roxy) is the oldest is an endless one. Each has its supporters claiming their cinema was made way before partition. Let's leave this contest aside.

While nowadays English films of different varieties are Kumar and Roxy cinemas' main attractions, before and after independence Indian films were screened here. A 60-year-old man says, “They used to show Indian films. I have seen many at Kumar Talkies. I still remember the song Ay Dil-i-Nashad Tera Shukria, don't know who sang it. It was an experience. Later on things changed and only Pakistani and then English films were screened. I have been seeing this facility ever since I was born.” Ay Dil-i-Nashad was sung by Asha Bhosle, by the way.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman, Coordinates: Khalid Hanif]

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