The early world of cinema, expansion of theatres in Bombay and a map of the city via cinema-halls

This article is a tribute to the memory of Virchand Dharamsey who passed away in the morning of 6 April 2023. On 19 January 2023, Dharamsey sent the article to the editors of this volume, Madhuja Mukherjee and Kaushik Bhaumik, and wrote: ‘Please find attached my paper – “The Early world of Cinema, Bombay/Mumbai Theatres”… ’. Dharamseybhai, as they addressed him, singlehandedly founded the study of early Indian cinema through his untiring archiving of surviving material as well as establishing sound historical methodologies to study them. In this article, Dharamsey gives us a brief account of the growth of film exhibition in Bombay city from the late-nineteenth century onwards to the gradual conversion of play-houses to cinema-halls, during the period of silent cinema exhibition, and the transition to sound cinema. Dharamsey’s account trawls a range of reports, newspapers, magazines in multiple languages- English and Gujarati. Thus, we find a dense mapping of localities and see how the city of Bombay, cinema and its cultures grew together. Also, Dharamsey tells us how older cinema halls turned to newer avatars , some of which are still standing while others have disappeared in recent decades during the conversion of exhibition from single-screen cinemas to multiplexes.