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R.I.P. Loews State |
The Loews State cinema, the last cinema on Broadway and the biggest Bollywood theater in Manhattan, closed last Friday, a victim of the AMC-Loews merger. This Times Square theater was so central that it showed up in movies ranging from Kal Ho Naa Ho to Phone Booth. As far as I know, the much smaller ImaginAsian is now the only theater on the island regularly playing Bollywood flicks. Where will I go to get my regular phixx?
I loved and hated you, my State. From playing telephone with the non-Hindi-speaking ticket window to watching tripe masquerading as film, you brought me the best and the worst on giant screens. You brought me up with Parineeta and down with Deewane Huye Paagal, up with Mangal Pandey / The Rising and down with Bluff Master; you brought me sold-out crowds (for Pandey) and a hall to myself (for everything else). Not three weeks ago, I ran backward down your escalator to retrieve a scarf and met two cuties doing the same. In recent years you were a second-run theater, but watching desi flicks at the center of the world was its own distinct thrill. And your location in the Virgin Megastore was so Bolly-apropos 
When I lived in S.F., a friend of mine hosted stylish, witty desi parties for the mid-20s to mid-30s set. She had a baby, the parties stopped, and everyone felt the loss. Some things are as much community services as profit-making ventures. The Bollyrun at the Loews State was such a creature.
Fifty years ago, the neighborhood was the world’s largest showcase for cinema — the area housed over a dozen grand movie palaces, including the Paramount, Roxy, Capitol, Strand, Warner, Rivoli and the National. In late 2004, the Loews Astor Place closed on 44th Street (it is now a concert venue, the Nokia Theatre), and a few years before, the area lost the Embassy two-plex and the Criterion Center. Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of increased rents for commercial space, the recent AMC-Loews merger, and the flourishing new multiplexes on 42nd Street near Port Authority, the AMC Empire 25 and the Loews E-Walk. [Link - NSFW]
One commenter speculated about the fate of this huge but poorly-promoted basement theater:
[I] would not be surprised if the whole lower level is turned into another high-priced theme eatery for the tourists that frequent Times Square. [Link]
Another Bolly-ignorant commenter snarked:
Check out this all-hit line-up. No wonder this place is ready to become a Dunkin’ Donuts, or whatever.
Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya…
My Date With Drew
The Rising
Viruddhposted by Don Rosen [Link]
Yes, Don, and here’s the lineup of winners at the Hollyplex:
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
Big Momma’s House 2
Cheaper By the Dozen 2
Last Holiday
Related posts: ImaginAsian showing Bollyflicks, Let’s play telephone, ‘Yuva’S
