Allu Sirish On Allu Cinemas: 'My Father Wanted To Give Back To The City'
The Telugu actor speaks about his father's vision of bringing the Dolby cinema screen to Hyderabad.
Hyderabad recently got a brand new theatre for an elevated film viewing experience. Telugu actor-producer Allu Aravind's Allu Cinemas, branded as India's largest Dolby screen, was launched recently in the presence of his sons Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. In an exclusive chat with The Hollywood Reporter India, Allu Sirish speaks about his father's passion project.
This was his way of giving back to the city, the actor begins. "This was our dad's vision. He's also a real estate builder, and he's done projects in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. He wanted to do one project, which was going to be his last, in the biggest and best way possible. He didn't want it to be another commercial project, but something iconic and memorable. He wanted to give back to the city."
The project took flight when Aravind visited a Dolby cinema in Germany a few years ago. "We wanted to bring something new to Hyderabad that people hadn't seen. Right at that time, he was travelling to Europe, and he saw the Dolby Cinema screen in Germany and was blown away," says Sirish.
Following his visit, Aravind immediately contacted Dolby, but the whole process took a while. "He did some 140 Zoom meetings over the course of three years because Dolby controls every technical detail. Right from the chairs, everything needs to be approved by them because they want a uniform experience among all the cinemas. The sound speakers aren't visible as they are tucked behind the walls. It is India's largest Dolby cinema screen."
The idea with Allu Cinemas is to also make it a de facto theatre for industry events and cinephiles, he adds. "Since the time he laid the stone for the project, he also wanted to run a film club in it, where we could screen international and rare titles for cinema lovers. For any audio launch or trailer launch, he wanted this to become a de facto industry place. It's my father's vision, but we're all chipping in our bit to help bring his vision to life."