Sterling theatre in Mysuru demolished

The demolition of Sterling theatre in Mysuru began on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: M.A. SRIRAM

Sterling theatre, which was once a prominent landmark in the city and known for screening the latest Hollywood thrillers, along with the best of Kannada and Hindi movies, was demolished on Tuesday.

It ruled the roost in an era when theatres screening cinemas were the only means of mass entertainment and drew large crowds before the advent of multiplex and digital media. The complex housing Sterling also had a mini theatre Skyline which too met the same fate.

The theatre was known for its better acoustics and sound system. Watching a movie at Sterling or Skyline in Vidyaranyapuram used to be a family affair for a generation for whom the theatre is now memory only.

Though screening of movies had been stopped in the last few years, the structure itself was brought down on Tuesday making Sterling-Skyline a part of history.

The demolition of Sterling is also a continuation of the ongoing erasure of theatres which have fallen out of favour of cinema buffs due to a shift in audience preference. It now joins the long list of such theatres like Olympia, Shantala, Ratna, Saraswathi, Ganesha, etc all of which have been demolished in recent years.

Running theatres and screening movies have become financially non-viable and there is a growing preference to reclaim the land and convert them to malls, shopping complexes, apartments, or convention centres.