Locating the Cultural Geography of Kolkata's Cinema Para: From Single-Screen Film Theatres to Cinemallisation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.846

Keywords:

Cinema Para, cultural memory, Kolkata, subaltern spectatorship, single-screen theatres

Abstract

This paper explores the cultural geography of Kolkata’s Cinema Para, a historic neighborhood of single-screen cinemas, to examine how these spaces have been transformed from vibrant public arenas into marginalized sites within the neoliberal urban landscape. Through ethnographic fieldwork, oral histories, and archival research, the study theorizes the concept of ‘cinemallisation’, the displacement of traditional theatres by mall-based multiplexes, as a manifestation of spatial dispossession. Drawing on frameworks of spatial justice (Soja), cultural memory (Assmann), and neoliberal urbanism (Harvey), the analysis reveals that the decline of single-screen cinemas constitutes more than infrastructural obsolescence; it represents the systematic erasure of affordable, collective cultural infrastructures. This research positions Cinema Para as a contested site where memory, class, and cultural citizenship intersect, and argues that the loss of these theatres signals a broader erosion of democratic urban life and of subaltern access to public space.

Author Biography

Syed Murtaza Alfarid Hussain, Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Assam University, Silchar

Syed Murtaza Alfarid Hussain is Professor at the Department of Mass Communication, Assam University, a central university in Silchar, Assam. After completing his graduation and post-graduation in English literature from Delhi University, he did his masters in mass communication and journalism from Tezpur University and was awarded with the best postgraduate gold medal. He did his Ph.D. in media framing of conflicts in Northeast India from Berhampur University, Odisha. He has remarkable works and researches on social media, media production and role of media in northeast India. His recent co-edited book 'Political Communication in the Digital Age: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives from India, is published by Bharti Publications. He has been awarded with the Thomson Foundation fellowship and attended a short-term course on 'Conflict Reporting' in the UK, and the Rotary Peace Foundation fellowship to attend a six-month course in peace studies at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Published

2026-05-22

How to Cite

Abbasuddin, S., & Alfarid Hussain, S. M. (2026). Locating the Cultural Geography of Kolkata’s Cinema Para: From Single-Screen Film Theatres to Cinemallisation. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(1), 512–547. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.846

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2026): Spring

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