Basusree cinema turned 75 in 2023. It was founded on December 19, 1947, under the aegis of Satyabhushan Basu. The cinema was named after the family surname. The Basu family had a long connection with movies. Satyabhushan's father, Shashibhushan, had come to Kolkata from Dhaka some time in 1903-04. He was the dewan of the Tripura Raj estate and had worked at Rani Rashmoni's estate when he shifted to Kolkata. Subsequently, he started a jewellery business. Shashibhushan had six sons. Satyabhushan was in charge of a factory manufacturing Clive fans in Kolkata. Another son, Phanibhushan, was interested in movies. He used to go to Jessore district and screen cinema in tents. Satyabhushan and Phanibhushan had also set up a production company and named it Chandabani Private Limited. They had taken a land on lease on Cornwallis Street and established a cinema named Bina. Another son, Kantibhushan, had established a cinema in Howrah named Kalpana. Yet another son, Bangabhushan, had made a cinema in Shantipur named Sushri. Satyabushan Basu died in his 30s. As a mark of respect, his photo was used in a slide with a caption mentioning him as Basusree's founder. This was screened before every show. A few months after India's independence, Basusree opened its doors with the screening of MS Subhalakshmi's Meera. That screening was followed by Uday Shankar's Kalpana. Three imported projector machines were used for screening films at Basusree. One of them is currently on display in the lobby. This was used to screen many classics at Basusree. Pather Panchali was screened there on August 26, 1955. Satyajit Ray was felicitated in the presence of the-then chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy at Bina Cinema. Aparajito and Sonar Kella had premiered there as well. For the premiere of Ajantrik, the car used for Ritwik Ghatak's film was lifted to the balcony for display. Most Hindi films did exceedingly well at Basusree. Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), Johny Mera Naam (1970, Deewar (1975), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978) and Laawaris (1981) ran no less than 10 weeks each. Prem Chopra, Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan had shot for Dulal Guha's Do Anjaane (1976) at Basuree. When Dilip Kumar wrote the script of Ganga Jamuma (1961) and produced the film, he got Nitin Bose to direct it. The premiere of the film was held at Basusree with Dilip Kumar in attendance. Dilip Kumar had also attended the premiere of Devdas. Films continued to be a big draw till the early 21th century. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) had kept the box-office jingling. Bengali films did as well as the Hindi counterpart. Dewa Newa (1963), Antony Firingee (1967), Sonar Kella (1974) and Baba Taraknath (1977) did good business at Basusree. Mantu Bose, son of Indubhushan Basu, took interest in hosting cultural programmes with stalwarts like Lata Mangeshkar, Hemanta Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra, SD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Sandhya Mukherjee. The Poila Boisakh addas were popular and had the august presence of Chhabi Biswas, Uttam Kumar, Soumitro Chatterjee, Bikash Roy, Pahari Sanyal, Bhanu Banerjee, Jahar Roy and Robi Ghosh. In December, night-long Indian classical concerts with the likes of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali, Ustad Vilayat Khan ran to packed houses. Stories of Indian classical music performances at Basusree still make people nostalgic. On one occasion, 10,000 people waited outside Basusree to get a glimpse of Pt Ravi Shankar. The last artiste had taken more time leaving only 45 minutes for the sitar maestro. Once over, the crowd had wanted to get his glimpse but the organiser suggested he leave through the backdoor. However, Motilal Ranga and Pt Jasraj, who were there with Pt Ravi Shankar in the greenroom, suggested that he go down. Ranga had picked Shankar up and placed him on his head. Shankar had happily sat in the lotus pose and soon he was transported from one person's head to that of another while moving in front of Basusree in a circle. Basusree was also modernized. Dolby digital sound system was introduced in 1997. In 2007, digital projection was introduced. Though the dwindling footfall at single screens impacted Basusree too, Baahubali: The Beginning did good business in 2015. The 2K projection was introduced in 2017. However, lack of interest in single screens and unavailability of good content led to steady decline of sales. Even before the pandemic, a maximum of 200 tickets were being sold per show at the theatre that has a seating capacity of 1,030. The tickets were priced at Rs 80 and Rs 110. Revival events, including the French film cycle with French consulate and Alliance Francaise du Bengale, German Goethe Institute/Pratay Gender Trust/Sapho's LGBT Film Festival and festival of independent films, got people to the theatre. Even during the pandemic when most events were suspended, Basusree became the venue for Arthouse Asia Film Festival. Screenings were held from February 21 to 28, 2021, in three shifts, with repeat screenings each day. During the pandemic, it shut down on March 28, 2020. A dozen Bengali films had released during 2020 Pujas when it had reopened. But the footfall at Basuree wasn't flattering. The hall closed on November 20 only to reopen before Christmas. It again closed down on April 22, 2021, and reopened on August 19, 2021, with Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom. Before the Pujas, it shut on September 24 to ensure that all the machines were well-oiled before reopening during the Pujas. In 2022, Paran Bandopadhyay and Dev's Tonic did exceedingly well at Basusree. In May, Anik Dutta's Aparajito too did good business. Later in the year, Avijit Sen's Prajapati starring Mithun Chakraborty, Mamata Shankar and Dev became a roaring success. Pathaan had a smashing box-office collection at Basusree in 2023.