A SLICE OF NORWAY IN KUTCH: THE OSLO THEATRE

The most prominent road junction in the town of Gandhidham is the rather piquantly named 'Oslo' Circle. As the name seemed totally out of place, I inquired from a few old timers regarding its origin. It apparently owes its name to the now defunct Oslo Talkies located about half a km North of it.

This once grand theatre in the midst of Gandhidham town is strangely named after Norway's capital. The theatre belonged to the erstwhile Maharaja of Kutch Madan Sinhji Jadeja and was built by him in the late 1950s.

Oslo Theatre Today

Madan Singhji had spent considerable number of years as India's ambassador in Norway.His office was at Colbjrnsens Gate in Oslo.The theatre was a dedication by the king to this unique assignment.He had donated a huge chink of land for the Sindhi resettlement site on the insistence of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Kriplani.

The Maharao of Kutch had a lady guest from Norway who inaugurated the theatre. A statue of a fisherman was also inaugurated which is now in the Kutch museum. Many here in Gandhidham remember the first film at the Oslo theatre in 1960 to be Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari starrer Kohinoor.This theatre has a nostalgic value for a number of Sindhi refugee families of Adipur and Gandhidham.

Sadly this theatre is likely to be demolished to either give way to a multiplex or a residential scheme.

Truely- India never fails to surprise!