In a dramatic move, Saudi Arabia lifts its 35-year-old ban on movie theatres

Saudi Arabia Gets a Movie Theatre

As Google celebrates the 148th birth anniversary of legendary Indian filmmaker, Dadasaheb Phalke, who is hailed as the father of Indian cinema, with a special Google Doodle today, we look at another, equally historic — and dare we say, dramatic — move by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which recently lifted a three-decade old ban on the screening of movies within the country.

Mexico's Cinepolis, the world's fourth largest exhibitor, in partnership with Saudi Arabian entertainment and hospitality operator Alhokair Group and Dubai-based luxury and lifestyle retailer Al Tayer Group, will build luxury cinemas in Saudi Arabia over the next 5 years.

AD's Assistant Art Director gives us a personal account of growing up in Dammam, sans cinema screens and experiencing her first movie in Mumbai.

Madness of Movies

Muslim. Girl. Saudi Arabia—or more specifically, Dammam (the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). To the outside observer, the combination of nouns may bring to mind a tricky environment to have grown up in. Despite the obvious restrictions that are written—and unwritten—spoken—and understood, I had an amazing childhood in Dammam. No limitation, no restrictions, no deprivations, barring one. The one that, in the wisdom of—we'll call it adulthood for lack of a better word—made me realize was the most important experience for a kid growing up in the late ‘80s who had family back in Bombay—the madness of movies!

Art Deco Theatre in Bombay

Loving everything about the movies, like the high-wired drama, costumes, make-up or even the background score for that matter that contributed immensely to making a scene unforgettable, I was shocked to discover the existence of an experience above and beyond my 29-inch home television that I was always begging my dad to replace. Though we had weekend airings of films on local English channels, my first visit on my annual vacation to the art deco-themed Eros cinema in Bombay at the age of five was as surreal an experience as actually watching the movie, if not more. The grand circular staircases, the stylized architectural embellishments (I do work at AD for a reason) and the beyond-belief ginormous screen were unimaginable then.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Clearly, the fates wanted to make this—my first experience in a theatre—a memorable one, so the movie that was fortunate enough to be seen by me, would of course be one that was, for all intents and purposes, quite ahead of its times. Watching Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on a screen like this in Mumbai was a treat in itself. Tiny pint-sized kids running around in what was essentially the backyard, just trying to get home. Bees, scorpions and cookies were supersized, posing as surprising threats to the microscopic kids' survival. I cried when Antie was killed by the scorpion, both times (the movie most definitely begged for a second viewing). I was in awe and under the assumption that Eros was made to screen Honey… and the movie would always be around every time I wanted to be swept up into the no-holds-barred, anything goes world of imagination.

Saudi Arabia Sans Cinema

During the rest of my vacation in the city, I kept wondering why this wasn't an experience I could enjoy every weekend in the place that I called home, whenever I wanted to. That's when I found out, much to my eternal disappointment that cinema, movie making and the screening of films was forbidden within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The only way to really enjoy these movies was guerrilla-like—through smuggled VHS tapes, and if you were looking for a legitimate source, then renting them from local video parlours. Unfortunately, those movies were almost always edited and you wouldn't even know it if you hadn't been lucky enough to see it in its original form. Eventually, I left the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and went to boarding school in India while my parents stayed back, and forgot all about this. After all, forms of entertainment became secondary in the pull and push of boarding school life.

Saudi Arabia, Act II

While the plethora of theatres here, in India, meant that I could access and enjoy movies in the theatre anytime I wanted, things were looking up back home too. The opening of the King Fahd Causeway connecting Saudi to Bahrain was a major turning point for the residents of the Eastern province with the visas becoming easy and affordable to procure. This meant that Saudi residents now had the option of visiting the Kingdom of Bahrain freely to indulge in everything they wished for (yes, including the much-coveted, magical movie theatre experience). Over the last few years, it meant that every time they planned to make a weekend of it in Bahrain and catch a movie running in the theatres there, my “qualified” recommendations and approval were eagerly awaited!

As nice as it feels to have my word given that much importance, it would be heartwarming to know that if all goes well with the first theatre opening in Riyadh and the other cities catch up soon after, my folks and their friends will soon be able to catch the latest film in their city sans the excruciating planning and coordination currently involved — a small pleasure most of us on the planet take completely for granted.

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