Priya cinema built on a leased property

I’ve never seen so much smoke — that too, after a fire! The blaze at Priya Cinema, south Kolkata’s favourite single screen, during the August 5 night show turned into a political controversy when fire minister

Sovan Chatterjee

said the flames seemed to have started from the first-floor office of Arijit Dutta. Arijit, by then, had put the blame on the momo counter on the theatre’s ground floor. He even said that he would keep an eye on vendors from now on and scrutinise the paperwork. But Priya has been shut for a week now and several other eyes will be on Arijit. Not many know that

Priya Cinema

is built on a leased property that belongs to the Banerjees of Chakraberia. The family’s patriarch, T Banerjee, had leased out the land to

Nepal

Dutta, grandfather of Arijit, and the Banerjees watch films for free at the reserved Box I. Only recently, a trusted source told me that the lease will be ending in some years and the Sword of Damocles is already hanging over Arijit.

The flamboyant owner of the cinema, that will now need several changes in the layout to get an NOC from the fire department, has more things to worry over, it seems. It got me curious when he claimed that only a 100-odd people were watching the night show last Sunday. Priya is a 700-plus seater that would pull in a capacity crowd on weekends. But Arijit’s constant tiffs with producers and rival exhibitors have cost him every money-making venture this year, including Asche Abar Shabor, Guptodhaner Sandhane, Haami, Uma and even

Bollywood

biggies like Sanju. The two times the crowds came to Priya were when Raazi and Drishtikone released. Fire safety is one thing, but Arijit needs an ice pack first.