Cinema to be converted into conference hall

Super hit movies were screened at Odeon in days of yore

RAWALPINDI:

The 130-year-old Odeon Cinema at Rawalpindi Cantonment will be transformed into a conference hall as a comprehensive plan has been devised for modernising Pakistan’s biggest Cantonment Board.

Earlier, the management committee of the Lansdowne Trust had rendered the cinema dysfunctional.

The theatre was built by Rai Bahadur Sardar Karpal Singh and Rai Bahadur Sardar Sujan Singh in 1897. It was the time when even talkies had not been introduced and silent movies had just started.

As per historical records, Rai Bahadur Sardar Kirpal Singh and Rai Bahadur Sardar Sujan Singh founded the Lansdowne Trust Rawalpindi in 1891 and an administrative committee comprising the general officer commanding (GCO), Rawalpindi district, the Rawalpindi commissioner, the deputy commissioner and members of the trust, including their relatives, was constituted to offer education and amusement facilities to the public.

The administrative committee had handed over the Lansdowne Trust to the Cantonment Board. In days of yore, several super hit English, Urdu, and Punjabi movies were screened at the Odeon cinema, where artistes would watch the movies along with their fans.

Following an incident, a fire had erupted in the cinema due to a short circuit. The cantonment management taking the cinema into its custody had built the central gate and encroached on offices in the adjoining building.

Restoration plan

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Executive Officer Muhammad Omar Farooq said a plan had been devised to restore all the historic buildings located in the cantonment board back to their previous condition.

“The Odeon cinema building holds historic importance,” he said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

The officer said the valuables and projectors had turned into ashes causing hefty loss after a blaze had broken out in the cinema. “The station commander and the top management have decided to restore the building.”

He added that services of craftsmen hailing from Multan had been sought in this regard. “Apart from restoring the outer portion of the building in the first phase, Rs2,500,000 is being spent on upgrading the hall.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2021.