'Would love to have my Mayfair back'

LUCKNOW: In times when retro is the toast of the town, what would it be like to have the relic of good old times Mayfair back? We shared our random musing with a cross section of Lucknowites and were they nostalgic just to reminisce the lovely time and feeling that tiny theatre gave them in their wonder years.
"It seems like another era, another life when a treat or celebration meant a movie at Mayfair," gushed Rashmi Agrawal, who graduated from the Lucknow University in the 1980s, before she got married and left the city."The best movies I have seen in my life, I guess, were at this cinema. Every time I think of the lovely films like the star-studded The Great Escape, or Papillion, The Champ, Kramer Vs Kramer and so many more, I can’t decide whether it was the movie or the delight of watching it in Mayfair," she added. Asked what it would be like to have it back, she said, "I haven’t been in Lucknow for so many years and wonder how it would be received now, but those who did not get to enjoy it, don’t know what they’ve missed."
Curtains fell on Mayfair without as much as an outcry at the turn of the millennium. But then, this is a city that let even the British Council Library on the same premises fade into oblivion, unlike in other places where patrons squatted till the decision was taken back.
"Those were my days of being passionate about bodybuilding and how I would wait for the next Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone film…Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, Rocky, Rambo. I would have never got to see all those greats had it not been for Mayfair," said advocate Vijai Krishna, his eyes twinkling with happy memories.
Another patron of English film, Irfan Zaidi misses the sheer convenience of location offered by this cinema that remains a city landmark till date. "Release of an English film at Mayfair would become a buzz among patrons and suited to our convenience we could check out any show, any day," said Zaidi, adding that business-driven multiplexes never showcase classic films, besides their show timings are most awkward. “The last time I probably enjoyed a good English film in cinema was 'Troy'. I would love to have my Mayfair back!” The film festivals are equally missed in which there would be limited morning shows of the year’s Oscar winners like Pretty Woman or thoughtfully scheduled kiddo fun films like Baby’s Day Out, Home Alone or Dunstan Checks In.
Students of premier institutions would take pride in discussing at school the film they checked out at Mayfair. "Can’t forget that swanky, chandelier-lit foyer, that minimal flight of stairs that led to the balcony that was hardly above the stall, the gallery of posters of old classics and the plush ambience that induced decent, civilized behaviour," said Sameera, who passed out of La Martiniere Girls College and graduated from Delhi University and considers the visits to this cinema hall an integral part of her childhood and grooming and wishes the tradition continued.
"In the wake of films losing the battle to piracy, several good cinemas were resorting to showing sleazy films to sustain, but Mayfair kept its aura and bowed out with dignity," said Ashok Dayal, an exhibitor from Kanpur, who had close down a theatre there around the same time for similar reasons. "The theatre is intact and to launch it again with smart packaging could be a good idea in times when people are relishing unique treats," he estimated.