Tivoli Cine Home is a standalone mini cinema in Secunderabad adjacent to Utsav Restaurant, behind the notorious Lamba Cinema. It is owned by the same group that operates Lamba, but thankfully, has been maintained as a class/family destination, opposed to ’’pornplex’’ Lamba. The adjectives that come to mind while describing Tivoli are ’’cute’’ and ’’cozy’’. It welcomes you with a white facade inside a compound that has a ticket booth in one corner of a smallish parking area that accomodates both two and three wheelers. The parking would hold only about 15 cars.
Thankfully a second gate was installed last year at the side, to allow easy exit to the parked vehicles. During rush, two wheelers (esp bicycles) are parked inside the adjacent Utsav Restaurant parking lot (which is also owned by the same group). Any more cars can be parked opposite the cinema on the road side.
If u want to leave the hall in the middle of the show, it would be impossible to take out your car unless you have parked it next to the gate (but this is true in most of the halls). The lobby is pretty ok with the typical cinema cafeteria (nothing special here). Stairs lead to the dress circle. The dress circle class stretches almost two-thirds of the auditorium.
The cinema is quite narrow and there are only about 13-15 seats in a row, which means there is no need of a central aisle running down the length of the hall. there are two small 5-6 seater ’’Box’’es above the Dress Circle, on either side of the projectionist’s cabin, but its not that popular except with couples or a desparate soul who could not get a ticket for the Dress Circle.
Two other classes occupy the small space between the ’Dress Circle’ and the screen. The screen looks like a wall-to-wall curved wide-screen TV, but is quite sufficient for this auditorium (remember, this is a narrow hall). The A/C is not bad at all, though during crowded shows, it seems somewhat inadequate. Still, we can live with it. The sound is the only factor that could do with improvement. Though the theater is equipped with Dolby system, the accoustics have not been planned properly.
Sometimes its jarring and on a few occassions I have heard the surround speakers make rumbling noises. The toilet is cleaned after every show and is OK. Watching a film here is not a bad experience at all. The tickets are not expensive. Last time I visited (a few months ago) the rates were 50 (box) 35 (dress circle), 20 and 10. But since the capacity is small, the seats get filled quickly, so try to drop in early and queue up.
Only thing, dont get your car. If you do, try to park it on the opposite side of the road, where the cars of the restaurant patrons are also parked (but not advised for night shows).