The Uphaar Cinema fire was one of the worst fire tragedies in India. The Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy occurred on 13th June, 1997 Friday at the green park of Delhi where there was a premium screening of the movie: Border. During that time, there were people who were trapped inside and as many as 59 people died because of the suffocation and 103 people were seriously injured. The fire at the place broke out at 5:10 pm. According to the report, the fire was caused when a 1000 KVA electricity transformer that was maintained by Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) at that time and was maintained in the theatres’ overcrowded basement car park, burst and destroyed 20 cars where 36 were parked but the capacity was only 18.

The fire slowly and gradually spread into the five-storey building where the cinema hall and several other offices too were housed Most of the victims of the tragedy were trapped on the balcony and died because of the suffocation as they were trying to reach the exits to escape from the smoke and fire surroundings but because of the dim lights and the locked doors, they got trapped there.

An off-duty captain Manjinder Singh Pinder of 61st Cavalry of the Indian army, who was also a talented horse rider, was celebrating his success at National games with his family at the movie hall who himself initiated to save his family’s life along with 150 other people on his personal initiative.