Mumbai has long been associated with films, with the first film being displayed here in 1896 by the Lumière Brothers. Following that Mumbai became the centre of India’s Hindi and Marathi language film industries, with the former often dubbed as Bollywood. The first cinema opened in 1913. Mumbai has many cinemas catering to a large and polyglot population. Cinemas often serve as major landmarks in the city and define the neighborhood. Most of the cinemas in the city are one-screen halls, but in recent times these have been giving way to large multiplexes.
Mumbai is the home to India’s premier movie industry – Bollywood. It is only natural that this city would have some of the best theaters of the country where moviegoers can feast their eyes and ears. Since it’s also one of the biggest cities in India, it has a huge number of cinema halls, probably more than those of many cities combined as well! In spite of this, it is very common to find these places booked out even on weekdays.
The mall culture of the present times has led to the growth of cineplexes, rather than pure movie theaters. These days, watching a movie is like a full-day outing, where people first browse the shops located in a mall, then have lunch, see a movie and finally, come back home around late evening. With such a wide variety of cinema halls, many of which are decades old, it can be a task to choose the best among them. More choices have opened up in terms of display and sound technology, as well as additional services
The well known theatres in Mumbai are as follows –
- 24 Karat
- Cinemax Andheri
- Cinemax Goregaon
- Cinemax Infiniti Mall
- Cinemax Kandivli
- Cinemax Sion
- Fame Adlabs
- Fame Goregaon
- Fame Raghuleela
- Imax Adlabs
- INOX Nariman Point
- Metro Adlabs
- Movie Time
- PVR Juhu
- PVR Mulund
- R Adlabs
- Sterling
Cinemas have been the greatest source of entertainment for Indians, ever since the media got introduced here. Mumbai, which houses Bollywood, is the center of the Hindi Film Industry. With Bollywood holding the record of producing the highest number of films every year, one can make out how popular cinemas are among the Indians.
As time passed by, the theatres or movie halls played foreign movies, especially English, to cater the increasingly diverse interests of the public. Today, movies of various languages ranging from the regional to international, find place in the cinema halls of this city. Many cinemas halls in Mumbai, which were built decades ago (when the concept of cinemas halls was new), have undergone major renovations to compete with the present day cinema halls.
Multiplexes, movie theatre complex with multiple screens, are spreading fast in most major cities and towns. In India INOX and CineMAX are two major multiplexes which enjoy monopoly over the rest.