Actor Pankaj Tripathi had in an earlier media interaction shared his wish to install an inflatable theatre at a height of 11,562 feet, and now, he has indeed fulfilled his wish and has successfully managed to install one in Leh. The theatre was installed by Picturetime Digiplex and is a mobile digital movie theatre company and is the first-ever moving cinema theatre in the Union Territory of Ladakh. The actor says, “What a beautiful initiative. Cinema reaches people in the interiors of this country. For someone like me who belongs to the film world, this comes across as such a unique and different means of film exhibition – ‘A Moving theatre’. Having a concept like this in a gorgeous location such as Leh is absolutely incredible.”
On Sunday, 22nd August, 2021 an inflatable theatre was installed at the NSDGrounds in Leh and the first screening was of a short film Sekool with 70 audiences. Later, a special screening of the recently released film ‘Bell Bottom’ shall also be held later in the evening for the Army and CISF. While the chief guest who came to witness this wonderful ceremony was Thupstan Chewang, President, Ladakh Buddhist Association, actor Pankaj Tripathi was the Guest of Honour.
The theatre and these inflated enclosures hold a capacity to house around 150 people, keeping the current pandemic situation in mind the theatre decided have around 75 seats with the apt distance between the seats of the theatre and maintaining social distancing as of now.
While giving speech as how important is the presence of cinema galls and theatre to Ladakh people Thupstan Chewang, President, Ladakh Buddhist Association says: “It has always been a very popular destination for film shoots. As you all know, Ladakh is one of the most secluded parts of the country. We are mostly cut off from the rest of the country half the year, so having a source of entertainment in the form of cinema is of great value to all of us.” He concluded by saying, “ “After the pandemic, it became all the more difficult for people to come out of their homes, and even though through the digital medium people had access to entertainment. We hope that through these inflatable moving theatres we get to watch all the good and latest content that is being made”.
Chaudhary, founder and CEO, PictureTime Digiplex, says, “The idea has been to reach out to the entertainment dark spots of the country. Ladakh had been missing out on a big screen for some time. We aim to install two fixed cinema screens, and one moving cinema over the next month.”
Pankaj Tripathi was recently seen in Mimi in 2021, and had also appeared in Fukrey (2013), Masaan (2015), Nil Battey Sannata (2016), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), Newton (2017), Fukrey Returns (2017) and Stree (2018). Pankaj Tripathi made his debut in Tamil cinema with the film Kaala, which was released on 7 June 2018 and also appeared in the 2018 web series Mirzapur and Mirzapur season 2 available on Amazon Prime and in the 2019 web series Sacred Games available on Netflix. His acting skills won many hearts and was also awarded ITA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Web Series etc.