Credits roll on Regal Cinema

Once the film ends, the audience applauds and then many stay back to record their last visit to Regal, taking photos, selfies near the screen and of the arches of the walls.

Outside, the walls with blackand-white portraits of yesteryear stars also make it to their phones. Away from the incessant clicking, on a chair sits 75year-old Billoo Seble, soaking in the atmosphere one last time.

“We had a shop right next to Regal. I am talking about 1947-48 onwards and we used to visit Regal every day. It was home. It was the most prestigious building in Delhi. Today, I felt like I was back in that era,” he says.

He wipes a tear off his face, and adds, “It’s even more special today because my uncle was one of the producers of Mera Naam Joker, and I remember attending the premiere here, and then a party called ‘The Stars’ at Oberoi Hotel went on till 6 am. What a time!”

While many reminisce about the hall, some like Mohan Menon remember the Regal bar on the premises, which he visited as an eight-year-old in the 1950s, with his father.

“He told me they had the best scotch in town. Later, I became a film critic and was a regular here. It was a social junction, it was the place to be,” he says.

At 10 pm, a new set of audience walks in for Raj Kapoor’s Sangam. Many have walked in with children as young as four.

One sits with a Mcdonald’s burger in her hand, her eyes trying to follow the man walking with a torch, and breaks into an irritated cry, as she complains of heat.

“We used to pack parathas and pickle from home and sneak it inside Regal. My granddaughter doesn’t realise now but she has maintained tradition,” laughs SK Kalra, 62.

As Raj Kapoor returns unharmed from the war in the film, the audience hoots as though surprised and when Rajendra Kumar serenades Vyjayanthimala with ‘Mera prem patr padhkar’, many chime along, as they do when she woos Kapoor with ‘Buddha mil gaya’.

Once the movie ends, an applause ensues, more photos get clicked, hugs are exchanged and old posters of these films are taken off the walls by some to carry back home. The gates are locked, as are those memories.