just by hitting a few keys on your smartphone you can now book a seat of your choice for your next movie outing gen y can barely imagine what it used to be like coming up with excuses to bunk school college and even office to stand in neverending queues to buy movie tickets or how people would swim across an ocean of movielovers to get their favourite seat much like anil kapoors raju did in laadlaread alsosingle screen cinema struggles for survivalthe era of single screen cinema halls is seemingly over in this cultural capitalthe end of single screen theatressince the advent of multiplexes several iconic cinemas in the city have shut shop unable to break even gone with them are a host of matinee memories writes priyanka dasguptathey also wont know what its like having police officers doing rounds at theatres trying to nab anyone cleverly uttering bees ka ek to sell tickets in black this defines the singlescreen era in delhi around three decades ago the era when watching a movie was not just an activity but an occasion by itself those who have seen films in singlescreen theatres swear by their magicdue to the mushrooming of multiplexes singlescreen cinemas started shutting years back however the decision to shut delhis regal and ritz theatres recently has sent many on a nostalgia trip in the 1970s delhi had 67 single screens now in 2016 there are only around 29 left some 20 singlescreen theatres have shut down in the last year itself while for some going for a movie might be just about the film itself others whose lives took a cinematic turn after watching films in these cinema halls call the closing of singlescreens tragic we spoke to a few celebs about the guzra zamana of delhis cinema hallssinglescreens arent just about movies theyre part of our culture swara bhaskari was heartbroken when chanakya shut down it was while watching films in chanakya that i decided to go to bombay and become an actor shakuntalam was another favourite i feel very disappointed because i share a special relation with singlescreen cinema halls theyre not just about movies but also about the culture of moviegoing itself it makes me nostalgic theatres that didnt have too many seats jahan houseful ho jata tha jahan subah se lambi lines lagti thi ticket ke liye jahan black mein ticket bikti thi thats really how bollywood unified india its illegitimate to make luxury so expensive that singlescreens could not even survivemy film journey started at regal rivoli anurag kashyapit was 1993 my gap year the only thing that i did that year was to go to a film festival this film festival took place at rivoli and regal i was watching five films a day back to back from zoology class suddenly i was in a completely different zone before that i had never thought about making films only after that did i decide to go to bombay and be