I’ve always enjoyed the ambience at Sterling, mainly because of the larger than usual screen, the humongous capacity, the young crowd that flocks the theatre in the evenings and of course the location. Also, the entrance to the theatre now looks like a dream after the refurbishment. Sadly, my latest visit to this movie theatre will be my last. Why? Keep reading.
My last visit to the theatre was in Jan 2002 when I went with an old friend of mine to see ’’Training Day’’. It was actually a ’’Torture Day’’ for both of us. We reached the theatre just a few minutes before the show was supposed to start. We got ourselves balcony tickets and rushed in. The entrance, as I told u earlier, was inviting and luxuriously done. Good enough. But, once we entered the main premises, there was a strange smell in the air and I could sense something was wrong. The theatre was nearly empty. No regrets, since we had come to see this movie because we liked Denzel Washington. The seats for the balcony too were the same old uncomfortable ones.
My nightmare began when I saw something I had never seen in any other theatre, rats and mice running around here and there. I saw one, then I saw MANY. I was petrified. I couldn’t believe that a theatre of this magnitude and age could have been maintained so shabbily. Now I understood that strange smell was because of the rodents. I instantly went and complained to the guy who understood my problem and said I could sit anywhere I wanted. I was angry and thats when I thought I MUST put this up on Mouthshut so that others could think twice before venturing into this rodent infested theatre.
As we sat through the movie, I saw the mice creeping up near the dupatta of a lady’s dress and in the process of eating it up. I was just about to tell her when my friend told me ’’Jaane do yaar’’. Just as he told me that, a rat ran through his feet. That moment onwards, he kept his feet well above the ground to avoid any contact with the rodents.
It was a horrible experience and I would suggest all of you to keep away from this ILL MAINTAINED theatre.