Everyone knows the Metro cinema hall – and what has happened to it. No reason to review that subject here, except to say, the MGM lion will roar no more on Chowringhee, as it did in its heyday.

The theatres in the city's hoary past are names commonly known, such as the Sans Souci on Burial Ground Road, where Esther Leach, Calcutta's most admired actress, was fatally burned when her costume caught fire, and the Chowringhee Theatre, down on what is now Shakespeare Sarani, totally consumed by fire in 1839. The Bengali traditions at the Star and the Minerva theatres are other subjects entirely. Once motion pictures came to town though, there was no looking back.

Like the railways, cinema's appearance worldwide was pretty rapid, mainly due to the overwhelming commercial opportunities. With movies, the takings are in the box office every night.

In Hollywood, the Bengali metropolis itself occasionally popped up as an 'exotic' locale. In 1946 Alan Ladd starred in 'Calcutta', which, not surprisingly, had very little to do with its title, and was conveniently filmed right on the Paramount lot. A good deal of 'The Road to Hong Kong' from 1961, the last of the Hope & Crosby 'Road' hits (and just as hilarious) ostensibly takes place in Cal and in one shot, both Howrah Bridge and a semi-great banyan tree have been skillfully grafted in to prove it!  But that's just the movies for you. After all, they're not documentaries. Speaking of which, I've never seen Louis Malle's 1969 documentary, still controversial, even now.

Anyway, without delving into Tollywood or Cal-set pictures like 'Howrah Bridge' or  '36 Chowringhee Lane', these international references are mentioned only to broaden the scope of Calcutta as a truly cinematic entity. The drama, spectacle, and intimacy are all there and always will be. But the screens that have long projected filmic product in much-loved cinema halls are being folded up – presumably forever.

This certainly isn't meant to be a valedictory to movie theatres in Calcutta, as they vanish in a slow-motion trend. I avoid applying mobile-tapped cliches like 'sad' and 'iconic' to note this process, even though they might be appropriate. Instead, just a few observations in search of a ray of hope – and then, actually finding one.

Calcutta is one of the last big urban holdouts before giving in to the dissolution of film venues. It started in the US in the 70s, and its progress has been inexorable, first in multiplexing and mall-izing the movie experience, then with cable and home video, up to today's streaming technology, which simultaneously destroys as it creates.

I was recently in Venice and discovered that their last movie house had been turned into a supermarket. The decor was retained, but where Sophia and Marcello used to shine, shelves groan with packets of pasta and plastic bottles of fizzy drinks.

Calcutta's sophisticated and venerable theatre collection in the Chowringhee-MuniCorp-Market neighbourhood is not what it was, though a few, such as the New Empire, still show the biggies for the time being. The Metro's famous signage and frontage are restored, but because of its non-cinematic rebirth, I choose to salute two stalwarts which, as far as I know, yet remain intact, though dark or moribund, and with uncertain futures.

The Elite, because of its unrivalled and very conspicuous location – as if Hogg Street is a sort of processional way towards its dynamic Cal-Deco facade – is on everyone's list of glorious movie-going memories.

But it is the Society cinema, off the beaten path, back in Corporation Place, that is perhaps the most remarkable showplace in town. When taking in the fortress-like bulk of its neighbour, Futnani Chambers, I was thunderstruck by the Society's formidable mass. It packs a full punch of solemn Deco power, akin to that of a great civic auditorium, a court house, an institute of high standing – or the spillway on a monumental dam!

The Society has been relegated to Grade Z films and re-re-re-runs, and its cosmetics are not up to proper showbiz glamour. But as one who has witnessed many a movie theatre succumb to the merciless wrecking ball (one in which I worked gave way to a dreary parking lot), when standing before it, exclamations pour forth.

‘Calcutta! Look at this place! It's here! It's yours! It still stands, and needs rescuing badly! As others fade out, this one should fade in!’

So that's my plea. And why not? If the town of Billings, Montana, can save the Fox, their last, best movie palace from certain destruction, then turn it into a successful performance centre, can Calcutta, in all its greatness, not see its way into achieving the same with the treasures it has?

We hung our heads when the Metro was seized and transmuted, while here in Corporation Place a heritage site waits for another kind of transformation. When the Covid Era is good and dead, people will be seeking new entertainments, in new locations, with new expectations. New construction is the usual response, but this great house, reborn as a multi-use showplace, would certainly do Calcutta proud!

Stay curious, have fun, and be sure to come when Calcutta calls!