Bombino, Hyderabad’s only cinema, is also in decline

A few decades ago, there was a boom in cinema in the small and big cities of the country, where cinema houses were a source of entertainment for the people, there it was also associated with the employment of many people.

After Karachi, Hyderabad used to be the center of cinemas for the people of other cities of Sindh, where there used to be 22 cinemas.

Residents of nearby areas including Hyderabad used to come to the cinema in large numbers to watch movies. Among these cinemas, Bambino Cinema is the only one in Hyderabad which is still operational and that too is likely to close down in the next few days.

This last cinema of Hyderabad was established by a Syed family of Sindh, who had cinemas in other cities of Sindh apart from Hyderabad.

Speaking to Independent Urdu, Syedul Karim Shah, owner of Bombino Cinema, said that the cinema was established by his father in Hyderabad in 1978 and the first film ‘Aashiqui’ was screened in it and the popularity of the cinema followed. I had grown a lot.

Al-Karam Shah further said that in other cinemas in Hyderabad, including Bombino Cinema, tickets were booked a week in advance and the cinema hall was full but still there were long queues of people.

According to him, now Bombino Cinema has a seating capacity of around 850 people, so only 20 to 25 people hardly come.

He explained that the reason for the demise of cinema culture was that good and quality films had stopped being made and due to which the cinema trend among the people decreased and thus cinema declined.

“If you enter the Bambino cinema now, you will find the ticket counter empty with waiting chairs outside and the inside cinema hall completely deserted.”

Al-Karam Shah, the owner of the cinema, was disappointed and added that he thought many times that the cinema should be closed, but he did not close the cinema.

“But now, if this continues, keeping in mind the economic situation, this only cinema in Hyderabad will also have to be closed.”

(Editing: Nida Mujahid Hussain)