kuriyedath taattiri watching a film

I first saw cinema when I was staying at the Thrissoor Bhramaswam Mutt. This was in the Malayalam calendar year 1084or so. In those days, it WASN’T CALLED CINEMA. It was known as bioscope. I am not sure how this name came to be, nor even, when it changed to be known as cinema.

Let me say that in those days, the bioscope had only MOVEMENTS, NO SOUND. When I first saw cinema, I thought these pictures were being projected from behind the screen. It was only later that I realized it was screened from behind the spectators.

– My Memoirs, by Kanipaiyyoor Sankaran Namboothiripad.