This Bengaluru theatre has been playing National Anthem for 25 yrs 

Veeresh Cinemas has been playing it before screening movies even before SC made it mandatory
Veeresh theatre on Magadi Road
Veeresh theatre on Magadi Road

Even as the Supreme Court’s order on mandatory playing of the national anthem across all theatres is being debated, one popular cinema hall in the City has been playing it before every movie screening since 1988. Veeresh Cinemas (formerly known as Shanthala Cinema) on Magadi Main Road, which was inaugurated in 1973, is the trendsetter.

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K V

K V Chandrashekara, Proprietor, took this initiative after his younger brother K Dhananjeya visited Singapore and was impressed with the country’s national anthem being played at every cinema hall.
“My brother was impressed with the discipline shown by the audience when they stood up to show respect for their country’s national anthem. He wanted our family-run cinema business to emulate it. So, we also decided to play it and have been continuing this practice since then.”

The switch over from reels to digital processing system helped us start this process, he added. So what about the audience reaction? “For the first six months, many would not even know it was the national anthem and one had to stand. But, gradually everyone coming over to our cinema hall started standing up, observing others, and the practice continues till now,” said Chandrashekara, who is also the former president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.
Stating that this was nothing new for cinema halls across the country, he recalls that from 1950 to 1979, most cinema halls played the National Anthem but at the end of the movie screening. “We noticed that audience were walking out when it was being played. Hence, in 1988, we decided to play it at the beginning of the show.”

From four shows to a day, the cinema hall has moved over to five shows since 2011 and mostly screens Kannada movies in which Dr Rajkumar or his sons play the lead.  
When asked if it was patriotism which guided the move, he said, “I definitely liked the idea of public paying respect to the national anthem and it was one of the reasons. But the song also helped us give a kind of signal to movie watchers that the movie would start within a minute!”

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