A cinema? near Old Delhi railway station

I have a few hours to kill between trains (arriving and departing DLI). I was thinking about seeing a movie as the Indian cinema experience is supposed to be "something." Would you advise it, and where would one be located near there safe for a single Westerner.

I don't know about cinemas around there but if nobody comes up with one you are in easy walking distance of Chandni Chowk and Kinari Bazaar which are an entertainment in themselves. You could could even get to Karim's for mutton - a real treat.

my information is now 40 years out of date but in those days there used to be some cinemas in the Kashmiri gate area (Minerva and one right at the gate whose name I forget) and then there was Moti on Chandni Chowk. They used to keep reviving Madhumati. I used to come out of the show humming

Zulmi sang aankh ladi

.

Thanks for the tips as always, Dave. Not much of a meat-eater here anymore, though I imagine if a place has excellent mutton, it might as well have excellent other food here as well.

Thanks, Golgar. Maybe the cinema isn't what it used to be, and is more a relic now. Perhaps, it's not even the same experience as it once was with the patrons so interactive with the crew on the screen.

If no one else shows up to this thread, I'll ask around after I deboard.

I guess there's a Ladakh market and temple just north east of DLI (near the river), so maybe I'll try to find that.

Are you single male, or single female? As a solo male white European traveler, I have no qualms whatsoever about walking into a cinema day or night in India, and indeed enjoy the experience, even if perhaps it's not in my language. White females however and certainly if solo it is commonly said might want to be a little more prudent about it, so perhaps stick to the matinees i.e. daytime, and not just run into any ol' dilapidated cinema.

I had excellent fish at Karim's (king fish, try it, if you do eat fish. It is indeed fairly to size!), and they do offer veg. food. Not a wide and a pretty standard North-Indian selection, but I'd be surprised if the latter were not good. Someone just kindly linked to the menu here, which according to them should be pretty up-to-date: http://www.zomato.com/ncr/restaurant...arims-463/menu. The rumali roti alone is an experience, translating to the handkerchief roti and a Mughlai specialty, this is giant, and has an interesting texture, compared to a regular roti. Fun to see them make it, too.

You're probably thinking of Majnu-ka-Tilla, a Tibetan refugee colony which should be in that general direction, and indeed not far away. I've never been there yet, but it could indeed well be worth dropping by, it's also something of a backpacker hangout with the guesthouses and cafes and stuff to match, but said to be much easier-going than e.g. backpacker Paharganj for it.

ps At Karim's, count on having to wait for a table, or try and make reservations, certainly on weekends. I guess if you're out of luck and it's very busy, you may well just not get served at all. It's nothing overly fancy or anything, quite the down-to-earth joint rather, but it is quite the institution with locals and visitors alike. It's certainly a Delhi "must" experience, if you can. Their own website: http://www.karimhoteldelhi.com/.

Thanks for the input, Mach. I'm a white dude, so apparently not much of an issue on the cinema thing. Is it primarily a North Indian thing? If I don't find one in Delhi, maybe I'll find one in Mumbai, depending on whether I'm there for an overnight or just a daytime between trains...

Thanks also for the link for Karim's.

The Ladakh market I believe is just north of the Ladakh Buddhist Vihar, which from Google looks like it is about a hundred meters northeast of where the intersection 24 and Mahatma Gandhi cross each other, just west of the Yamuna and northeast of the Kashmere Gate metro station.

I think that's a couple kms south of Manju ka Tilla.

There's supposed to be a hidden temple just north of the Ladahk market and under an overpass of Mahatma Gandhi, which I'd like to find. On Google maps, it does look like there might be a market just north of the Vihar, so I'm suspecting the temple might be just north of there...

I appreciate the suggestions, and if I can't find the temple, I'll head up to Manju just to check it out.

Ah, those evil North Indians!

Plenty of cinemas in Mumbai. Just check on google.

I think I may (try for it in Mumbai instead). I think my first priority in Delhi is to head over to the NDLS and try for a Foreign Tourist Quota for a train I need out of Mumbai a few days later. That will free up some time in Mumbai anyway!

If you check your bag at the Cloakroom at Old Delhi station you could get the metro from Chandni Chowk to NDLS.

To deposit your bag you need to show your rail ticket and give them a photocopy of your passport photo page.

When you leave Old Delhi station turn left and you should see the entrance to the metro. It is 2 stops to NDLS where there are signs in English guiding you to the station. The metro is on the Ajmer Gate side of NDLS - you need to cross the footbridge to the other side of the station. The international bureau is on the first floor (i.e the one above ground level). Don't pay any attention to the touts who try to tell you that it is closed or has burnt down. It is open 8-8 M on - Sat 8-2 on Sunday.

Er - have you seen an Indian film? "A few hours" won't be enough to get to and from the cinema, and watch a film.


If you're headed to Jaipur then take in a film at the Raj Mandir.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Mandir_Cinema,_Jaipur

Or in Mumbai - head for Colaba and the Regal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regal_Cinema


And I'm assuming here you want to see an Indian film; and almost certainly without subtitles.

I'll not be in Jaipur, so maybe the Regal will do the trick for me in Mumbai. Thanks for the heads up on the timings, I didn't realize it would be a whole afternoon, and yes, you are correct, an Indian film without subtitles for best effect! I wonder what I should see...

Thanks for the tips, Dave. I didn't realize that Chandi Chowk was so close, I thought it was 3 or 4 blocks South of the DLI station, but I've never been to that station, so I will use your knowledge and with much appreciation.

I know to be aware of the touts there at the NDLS, though I haven't been to that station yet, either. I have time in Delhi, so I'm sure with a little persistence, this snail will reach the ark.

And, yes, I do anticipate dropping my bag at the cloakroom at DLI. It was a mess the last time I was there, and I'm not looking forward to it at all. It's just a grin and bear it situation, get the bag settled and get out of there.

Hopefully they won't be too busy at 8:30a or so (assuming the train is running reasonable on time).

I'll head back out of DLI at 5:30p heading to Jaisalmer, so I'll have time to figure out the FTQ and hopefully look for that "secret" temple north of the Ladakh market and possibly the Manju ka Tilla area also.

We'll see. I want to be back at DLI at the latest at 4:30p to make sure I can get my bag and get on the right platform.

Thanks again for the concise tips.

When you enter the Chandni Chowk metro station outside DLI and go downstairs there is quite a long walk to the booking hall but it is well lit and has some a/c . There is a similar length of walk beyond the booking hall towards the street named Chandni Chowk so it probably is 3-4 blocks south of DLI.

We saw the Regal in Mumbai but didn't go in. It looked OK and is quite close to a busy area for restaurants.

Thanks, Dave.

Florian, if this is still in time for you, Regal Cinema in Mumbai's Colaba is a really good cinema, and as you may have gathered in itself something of an old institution. Excellent sound system, too, btw. (Or at least in one of its cinema halls then, where I last saw a movie a few years ago. Pretty huge screen, as well.) It serves as a landmark there, too, so you can ask any taxi driver to drop you off here.

It regularly shows non-dubbed foreign movies, and I can't be sure now, but I would think by extension probably also Indian movies, possibly subtitled then.

Elsewhere, I don't quite recall, but I do remember seeing a Terminator movie once in some Keralan smalltown, I think that was dubbed into Malayalam, then again subtitled in English, or perhaps the other way around. But that memory may be spurious. If so, I think it's not impossible if an Indian movie is shown which is not in the state language, it may be dubbed into it, then subtitled in English again. But that may be wrong, Indian members here should know. (Maybe they'll rather be subtitled or dubbed into that state language?)

Indian movies don't have to be four-hour dance number & failed karate extravaganzas btw, there's a healthy industry in just real cinema, what in the West I guess would pass for arthouse movies. These will typically be regular movie-length. Good crossovers between both genres also exist, not all of Bollywood and the likes is just meaningless escapism.

If you're just watching such a standard Bollywood flick for the heck of it and not understanding too much of the finer plot, there's little to stop you from if needs be getting out of the cinema in time to catch your train, of course The cost won't tend to be prohibitive, either; more and more of these "mall"-type huge cinema complexes spring up now, usually set within or near to a mall indeed, which in fact may cost something, for Indian standards (to a foreign visitor, it would either way be peanuts); but a regular ol' cinema will really cost very little, that's kind of the whole idea. It's supposed to be affordable entertainment for the masses. As indeed if I recall e.g. Regal Cinema isn't at all costly, though no doubt still more than just y'r average backwater cinema.

Either way: Enjoy!

ps

As you may have gathered by now, no, not at all; cinema is a #1 national entertainment mode, rather, and a huge industry, in output way up there internationally (in output, said to rank first in the world, to be precise). Remember the universal spread of TV in India is only relatively recent; and still showing many such productions, btw.

Witness also your Tollywood (Telugu, Andhra Pradesh) and Kollywood (Tamil Nadu) etc. (then with Kolkata indeed long renowned for its more serious arthouse productions), many states and their capitals have a blooming film industry, and always in happy if fierce competition with one another. So much so that it's quite common these days to bring out full remakes of blockbusters or what are expected to be in another state language!