India's Single-Screen Cinemas Were Struggling Before COVID-19. Now They're Dying Out

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/17/ [login to see] /indias-single-screen-cinemas-were-struggling-before-covid-19-now-theyre-dying-ou
The slightly rusty metal gates of a single-screen cinema creak as they open to reveal a nearly 100-year-old white building whose curved contours and ziggurat roofline hark back to its Art Deco roots. Big silver letters proclaim its name — Central Plaza — but the letter 'T' is missing.

A placard outside the building says "House Full." The theater has been empty for more than a year, though.

"We've got very good, fond memories of this place, but at the same time it's just not possible to operate anymore," says Sharad Doshi, whose family has owned Central Plaza for more than 50 years. He officially shut the theater last spring.