BENGALURU: Plans in December usually revolve around annual holidays or new year parties. But Babu Ajaz spends his time collecting pictures of heritage buildings of Bengaluru for his new year calendar. For 2020, Ajaz’s project is themed around movie theatres, with each month showcasing a cinema hall from the bygone eras of Bengaluru. “Since we are entering a new decade, why not pay tribute to places that once upon a time gave us a perspective of what the future would be like through the movies they ran,” said Ajaz, a businessman, who does this as a passion project.
The journey began in 2014, when Ajaz made a calendar for 2015 with pictures of his daughter. Appreciation from friends and family for the project led to a ‘eureka moment’ for Ajaz, who decided to create themed calendars every year. A history buff, he decided to create a calender with pictures of forgotten and rarely celebrated heritage buildings. “I am part of two groups on Facebook: Bangalore - Photos from a Bygone Age and Whitefielders Past and Present. I see so many people posting pictures of old Bengaluru, so I decided to compile these pics into themes for a calendar,” said Ajaz, who refers to himself as a “proud Whitefielder”.
When the 36-year-old made the first calendar on heritage building of Whitefield, he got a good response from the members of Whitefielders Past and Present, of which he is also the admin. Now it has almost become a ritual for the group members to wait for a new calendar.
Most of the theatres in the new calendar were functional when his mother used to be a little girl, he said, continuing, “Now she is quite old, so you can do the math. Most of the theatres don’t event exist anymore.” He also recalled how in older days, it was difficult for him to afford travelling 20 km from Whitefield to watch a movie in these theatres. “But I did get a chance to go to Plaza theatre in Shanthala Nagar to watch the 1999 version of The Mummy.”
The calendars are available online but if you want a hard copy, you can get in touch with him for a high resolution soft copy.
Sneak-a-peek
Jan: Liberty theatre, MG Road, which was shut down in the late 1970s
Feb: Paramount, City market, renamed Parimala & Pradeep but was shut in 2009
March: Elgin, Shivaji Nagar; operational from 1986 to 2011.
April: Opera, Brigade Road. The heritage building was restored
May: Plaza, Shanthala Nagar, which was shut in 2005
June: Swastik, Tindivana, now shut
July: Alankar, Hoskote, which is still functional
Aug: Bharthi, T Dasarahalli, still open
Sept: Central, which shut
Oct: Sharadha, near Townhall, still open
Nov: Everest, Pulikeshi Nagar, still functional
December: Ajanta theatre, Ulsoor, which was shut down