Curtain call for Urvashi Theatre: Bengaluru loses one of its last single-screen icons

With a High Court-mandated shutdown and demolition timeline in place, the iconic Urvashi Theatre on Siddaiah Road is set to close, marking the end of a cherished era in Bengaluru’s cinema culture.

The lights are set to fade at Urvashi Theatre, one of Bengaluru’s most iconic and last surviving single-screen cinemas, bringing an emotional end to a space that shaped the city’s movie-going culture for decades. Located on Siddaiah Road, close to the heart of the city, Urvashi was more than a cinema hall, it was a shared experience, a meeting point of fandom, family outings and festival traditions.

For generations, watching a film at Urvashi meant standing in long queues, cheering loudly at hero entries, celebrating first-day-first-show releases and soaking in the collective energy of a packed hall. Its large screen, powerful sound system and vibrant crowd atmosphere created an experience that multiplexes never truly replaced. College students recall skipping classes for blockbuster releases, while families remember annual festival visits turning into rituals. For many film lovers, especially Kannada and Tamil cinema fans, Urvashi was often described as a “temple of cinema”.

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The closure of Urvashi also highlights the steady decline of single-screen theatres in Karnataka.

The shutdown follows a long-standing property dispute between Basetty Trust, the landowners, and Sreenivasa Enterprises, the theatre operators. Court records show that the land was leased in 1970, allowing the operators to build and run the theatre for a fixed period. That lease officially expired on April 23, 2018. While there was a provision for a possible 45-year extension, it required the landlord’s consent, which was not granted. The theatre operators argued for renewal citing heavy investment, but the landlords declined.

Initially, a trial court ordered the tenants to vacate the property within two and a half years. On appeal, the Karnataka High Court revised the deadline, directing that the theatre and land must be vacated by February 15, 2026. The court also clearly stated that demolition of the theatre building must begin at least four months earlier, by mid-October 2025, to ensure the site is cleared before handover.

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As Urvashi prepares for its final shows, Bengaluru is not just losing a building, but a living memory of cinema as a collective celebration, a reminder of a time when watching a movie was an event, not just a screening.