Opened in 1929, the Shivaji Chitra Bhavan overlooking the Music College was the first cinema house with a cinemascope screen to be established in Baroda. The theatre was known as the Chitra Bhavan because in the olden days the movies played were without sounds.
The career of a cinema house :
During the 1969 riots, the people damaged the theatre. After the incident, the structure was revamped and was renamed as Prince Cinema (talkies). The theatre functioned with the best available technology of the time. It had a RAC projector imported from the USA with side speakers of that time. At that time and even now the theatre has about 345 seats.
In 1974, Rakesh Roshan & Reena Roy came to Prince Cinema as some part of the film ‘Goonj’ was shot in the city. Also, Subhash Ghai came here in 1972 during the release of ‘Do Bachche Dus Haath’!. Apart from Indian Cinema, it was also famous for Hollywood movies. It was an all India distributor of big banners like that of MGM, WB, Columbia Movies, 20th Century Fox.
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The theatre that ruled Baroda Cinema Industry for over 60 years, has declined over the years in the favour of new Multiplexes and now only showcases regional Gujarati films.
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