Flames of Death

A cinema outing is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Surely it started out fun but soon turned into a large scale tragedy.

The trail of destruction was the only thing left behind; Source: Patrika

The year was 1997 and the day was Friday the 13th. While superstitions say it to be an unlucky date, nobody still dreaded it to turn that ugly. A fine morning in Delhi, the events that happened the rest of the day shook India to its core. A fire engulfed a cinema hall and around 59 lives were lost with around 100 injured. A fun cinema outing with friends and family turned out to be a real horror show as they experienced the most traumatic incident of their life. The Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy remains a black day in the history of the country.

J.P. Dutta’s Border had released the same day and cinema halls were expecting packed houses. Green Park, Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema was no different and was preparing for the matinee show. Owned by the Ansal brothers, one of the transformers caught fire in the wee hours of the morning. As the smoke started to make its way, Sudhir Kumar, the guard, informed the fire brigade, and everything was brought under control within half an hour. To ensure no further mishap occurs, the Delhi Vidyut Board also came for an inspection and repaired the same. Everything seemed fine and Uphaar was ready in all its glory. The audience was really excited to see J.P. Dutta’s gift to them.

Families, siblings, and friends soon started to arrive at Uphaar. Partitioned into an auditorium and balcony, people thronged the hall and occupied their seats. Border started to play as people whistled and clapped. The fire of patriotism burned in the reel but another fire, a deadlier one was soon going to devastate everything.

To no one’s knowledge, the transformer oil started to leak out and around 4:55 PM the fire started spreading. Chaos and panic emanated from the theatre and people started running for an exit.

But the fire was mightier and higher. Several got trapped due to poor exits and their lives were destined to an unfortunate end. Screams and shrieks were heard until everything became silent. A shroud of deathly still covered the place. Even the parking area caught fire leaving it destroyed.

Smoke and the smell of charred bodies started haunting the place. It was half an hour after the incident that 48 fire tenders came to service but everything was finished by then. Later the dead and injured were shifted to AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital. Relatives ran amok to locate their loved ones but many searches ended in failure and grief. The whole country watched with horror the events that played on the television.

So what was it that led to such massive tragedy? Despite repairing the transformation after the morning mishap, why did another fire break out? Investigations revealed that the repair work was done with a hammer and die. Carelessness and apathy were also other reasons that led to it. Even after the fire broke out, none of the staff came forward.

There ensued a stampede amidst the panic as they ran blindly towards the dark exit. Neither any announcement nor any fire alarm rang to save these lives. Furthermore, one of the exits was blocked making it all the more difficult to come out.

The later years saw an investigation that ran for several years. An organisation, The Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire tragedy was formed demanding justice to be served. Although justice arrived years later, no one could bring back the lost lives that perished in the fire. Even after two decades, the last cries of several people remind us of the hefty price they had to pay for a few people’s negligences.