Metro Cinema

5 Jawaharial Nehru Road,
Kolkata

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Loew's Inc.

Architects: Thomas White Lamb

Styles: Art Deco

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Metro Cinema

The Metro Cinema was a project of MGM to promote their movies in Kolkata (Calcutta). It was the first of two cinemas to be designed in India by the noted New York based (Scottish born) architect Thomas Lamb, the other being the Metro Cinema in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1938, again for MGM.

Lamb drew up plans for this Metro Cinema in 1934 and it opened in 1935. It was built on the site of an earlier cinema and utilised some of the original walls.

MGM continued to operate the Metro until 1972 when they sold out to a local exhibitor. The auditorium was demolished around 2012 and the façade was saved to be used as an entrance to a new multiplex cinema on the site.

Contributed by KenRoe

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

GaryParks
GaryParks on July 20, 2005 at 12:50 pm

Thomas Lamb also designed the deco styled Metro in Cairo, Egypt. Apparently it’s not far from the Cairo Museum. I am going to try to find and photograph it when in Egypt this Fall. According to theatre organ specialist Tom DeLay, it even had an organ, which may still be in the theatre, as far as he knows.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on July 20, 2005 at 3:01 pm

The Metro Cinema, Calcutta is almost identical to the Metro Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia (Architect;Thomas W. Lamb). To see a photo of the Metro, Adelaide go to; /theaters/1588/

Gary;
I have just added the Metro Cinema, Cairo to Cinema Treasures

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on October 22, 2005 at 8:58 am

Here is a 1945 photograph of the Metro Cinema, Calcutta:
View link

Gooper
Gooper on June 20, 2011 at 8:14 pm

I have walked by the Metro in Calcutta many times but have never been inside. The Deco facade is a landmark on busy Chowringhee.

Gooper
Gooper on July 2, 2012 at 12:31 pm

Unfortunately, the Metro seems headed for radical alteration. The facade, which I saw in rundown condition a few months ago, will apparently be retained. Story in Calcutta ‘Telegraph’:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120627/jsp/calcutta/story_15659819.jsp

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