BRV Talkies, British-Era Cinema Theater in Bangalore, 1942 Photo
A 1942 photograph of the BRV Talkies at Cubbon Road, a British-era cinema theater in Bangalore. A hand-pulled rickshaw can be seen in the left foreground, a rare sight in Bangalore. The roots of BRV Talkies trace back to the Bangalore Rifle Volunteers (BRV), a unit formed in 1884 under the Madras Army during British rule. The military played a central role in the life of the Bangalore Cantonment, and the BRV was the go-to place for entertainment.
Originally, the location housed regimental offices, an armoury storage, and recreational facilities, including a reading room, billiards room, and bar. The building itself was designed in the medieval Tudor-style of architecture, giving Cubbon Road one of its distinctive early 20th-century landmarks.
It wasn’t until 1959 that this military recreational hall transitioned into a cinema venue known as Defence Services Cinema (DSC) — popularly remembered as BRV Talkies. This was part of the post-Independence evolution of entertainment in Bangalore, as cinema gained popularity among both residents and the expatriate community.
BRV Talkies became known for showcasing English films, including major Hollywood releases that drew large crowds. As other theaters like Lido, Plaza, and Empire emerged in the 1960s and ’70s, BRV Talkies began to lose its relative sparkle.
By the late 1970s, the Army decided to close the cinema. The building was repurposed once again, this time as an Army canteen, known today as the Golden Palm Army Canteen, that still stands on Cubbon Road. Some of the movie advertisements seen in the image read The Big Shot and Dangerously They Live, both were 1942 Hollywood movies. Click image to enlarge.
Did you know – classic memories of Bangalore, like other places, involve students skipping class to see James Bond movies, one of them was “Goldfinger”.
