Buffing up for the film gala

Buffing up for the film gala

Anila Backer P

Lakshmi Vijayan

Eleven theatres in Trivandrum had a face-lift recently. They are the ones identified for the screening of IFFK festival films.

  

  “The restoration work is over and the cinema houses are all set for the eight day gala. We had stopped the regular shows for maintenance works like dusting up the seats, swapping the faulty seats with new ones, servicing the equipment for projection  and painting the hall ”, said Soman Nair, the manager of the Dhanya-Remya theatre complex.

Edited By: RenjithR Nair

  The same hustle was shown by the government to make its theatres look spic and span. At the government-owned Kairali theatre a special canteen has been set up exclusively for IFFK. “We have arranged car parking facilities outside the cinema for the delegates and the roads outside the theatres have already been repaired”, said Gandhimathi Balan, the Vice Chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

           

  The theatres utilized the gap given by the film distributors’ strike to carry out a large chunk of the work. Moreover, the release of two Malayalam films has been postponed in view of the festival.

           

  Sreepadmanabha theatre which has always remained a cut above the rest claims to have come up with cushy cotton seats and better cleaning techniques this time.

           

  Unfortunately, despite all the arrangements being made at  the theatres, there are still chances of complaints cropping up regarding the hygiene in the theatres  due to littering of food particles. But this problem can be tackled only with the cooperation of the delegates. “Cleaning is indeed a difficult task as the audience refuses to go out after the screening, waiting for the next” said a theatre official.