Gem Cinema

Gem Cinema opened in Jaipur on July 4, 1964, after Maniram Kasliwal’s grandson laid the foundation stone four years earlier. The theater became famous for its 10 a.m. Hollywood screenings, especially James Bond marathons that drew crowds in tuxedos and sunglasses. When multiplexes arrived in the early 2000s, Gem couldn’t compete. It closed in 2005, locked up, and sat silent for 15 years while dust settled on the velvet seats and Art Deco fixtures. The projectors stayed dark. Then, in 2019, the Jaipur International Film Festival asked to use the space. The original projectionist, who had been caring for the Bauer Arc Lamp Projectors since 1962, returned to fire them up. The machines worked. The lights came on. The festival screened films in a theater that had been a time capsule for a decade and a half.