From Saurav Bora
TURA: Once the most sought-after ‘centres of entertainment’ here in the 1970s, back when neither television nor smart phones could eat up people’s leisure time, Chabi Ghar, the town’s one and only movie hall, is just a thing of the past today.
For a region that has grappled with militancy-related issues over decades now and with development taking a backseat, Garo Hills has had just about nothing in the name of leisure and entertainment after the cinema had to close down in 1991.
The movie hall was started by late Ranjit S Marak in partnership with another person from West Bengal in the Town Hall at Ringrey. In 1981, it was shifted to nearby Balading on a plot owned by Marak.
“Chabi Ghar was the centre of entertainment once when it ran full house. But there was an incident of communal violence on August 11, 1987, when two persons died here. That triggered unrest and clamour for the perpetrator’s arrest, subsequently leading to imposition of Section 144. Thereafter, the second show (8pm) had to be stopped, which later affected the movie hall’s business,” John Leslee K Sangma, South Tura legislator, told The Shillong Times.
The situation thereafter only deteriorated.
“Later, first shows were scrapped and finally the cinema had to close shop in 1991. Thereafter, the building lay abandoned for many years and played home to anti-social elements,” Sangma said.
Sangma’s wife, Richelle Cheran Momin had inherited the property from her mother in 2002.
The auditorium, currently adjacent to where the family lives, was renovated some years later and morphed into a marriage hall that ran for a few years till 2013.
“But we had to sanitise the hall, get the mud-plastered walls and the stage done up. The bug-infested chairs were all done away with. Once we were gifted the property, we thought of starting a nursing home there. But the idea was stalled as the amount needed was too high,” said Richelle.
Currently, the auditorium houses a few vehicles owned by the family.
“We are using it as a garage, for meetings, conferences and get-togethers,” Sangma said.
But the family has the idea of setting up a multi-storied mall in that space with the specified basement parking with approach routes from the road. “A multiplex is in our scheme of things,” he added.
Asked about the movie hall, young Carlos Momin (name changed), was a tad embarrassed. “I was not even born when it closed down. So can’t tell you much,” he said.
While the Android generation here may not be that concerned, the “old-school people” still cherish memories of those days.
“I still remember those days when we watched movies like Devdas, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Tarzan… I was a school student at that time. The hall used to run full house and there were many who sold tickets in black,” a nostalgic K Debnath recalled.
Times have changed and law and order in this sleepy town has improved over the past couple of years. So while the old-world movie halls have made way for cineplexes in other cities, the town might just have one good entertainment facility worth its name down the line.