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In 2019, the purchasing of a ticket to the Jaipur International Film Festival not only included exciting new screenings, but a first look at an old movie house that had been shuttered for over 15 years. The film projector setup, however, showed no signs of age—the theater’s original projectionist Bhawani Sinh ji (85) was even brought in to make sure it all was humming the way it should. While the festival would begin a new chapter for the resurrected cinema, the passion from it’s family-run ownership had never wavered or changed since its foundational stone had been laid. In fact, symbols of the family litter the movie house, from the exterior neon signage to the shapes that artfully cover the ceiling. While an unlikely combination, for the Kasliwal family, the jewelry and movie businesses go hand in hand.
In 1960 Maniram Kasliwal laid the foundational stone to Gem Cinema, the beginning of four generations family members that would continue running the theater until this day. Finally opening in 1964, the cinema was an Art Deco and Mid Century masterpiece of concrete and design, and the largest single-screen movie house in Jaipur with 1,245 seats. Named in honor of the family’s famed original trade in jewelry, the Gem was laden with references to, well, gems. As audiences would crowd in for the theater’s famous 10am screenings of Hollywood movies, any patron could look up become mesmerized by the gem shapes covering the ceiling. In this glamorous hey day, even the royal family of Jaipur would visit the theater to watch the latest Bond film or Bollywood masterpiece.
By the 2000s, however, the Gem Cinema was experiencing what many single-screen movie houses at the time were struggling with–competition from multiplexes and changing tastes. Denying offers to turn the theater into a mall and other development projects, Sundhir Kasliwal decided instead to close the Gem Cinema in 2005 and keep it under watchful eye. While closed to the public, Kasliwal continued to maintain the old movie house, giving the cinema its beauty rest while he waited for the right to to reawaken its projector. 15 years later, Kasliwal’s decision would prove to be a genius one.
Now managed by Sundhir’s sons, Samarth and Siddharth, the Gem Cinema is back better than ever and treating audiences not only to titulating titles but entry into a bygone era. Taking in its colorful lobby and playful “jewelled” ceiling, it’s not hard to feel like royalty sitting amongst the moviegoing masses.
