| |
| |
| A
legendary theatre in Chennai gives way
to a shopping complex!! |
|
|
|
This
particular theatre is such a quintessential
part of our city that it is with sadness
that we announce the fact that South India's
first 70mm screen theatre, Anand Theatre
at Mount Road is going to give way to a
shopping complex. |
|
|
Even today, when one says Mount Road,
or the LIC building, Anand theatre
is what comes to one's mind. It is
such a familiar landmark in the city,
that even the bus stand next to the
theatre is named Anand.
G Umapathy, who used to run Uma Printers,
built this theatre in 1964 with 70mm
technology, and the then CM Kamarajar
inaugurated this theatre.
|
|
|
Once
the theatre was inaugurated and open to
the public, Umapathy, a man enthused to
create records in cinema, produced the first
70mm film, Raja Raja Cholan, with Chevalier
Sivaji Ganesan in the lead. Some of the
best films, technically exciting and visually
appealing, the hi-tech films of those times,
were screened at this theatre, with many
of them celebrating 100 days and silver
jubilees as well. |
|
Some of the highlights of this theatre are
Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon that was screened
here, clocking in more than 54 weeks, while
Rajesh Khanna's Aradhana ran for 64 weeks.
The Mohan, Poornima Jayaram starrer, 'Payanangal
Mudivathillai', ran for 576 days! In Little
Anand, the subsequent mini-theatre that
was constructed, Vennira Aadai, in which
the former CM of Tamil Nadu made her debut,
ran for 100 weeks!
Sadly, the fate of many such theatres and
heritage buildings, are being converted
into marriage halls or shopping complexes.
|
|
|
| |
Due to the lack of performance of
films in such theatres, it becomes
difficult to maintain it. In fact,
this very theatre was converted into
a marriage hall a few years back,
and was then brought back to being
a theatre again. They began screening
only Hindi and English films, while
hosting many international film festivals.
But, due to the lack of crowds (note
that the hugely popular Sathyam Cineplex
is very close to this theatre), the
theatre management has decided to
demolish Anand theatre and build a
shopping complex in its place.
|
|
|
Currently,
a Malayalam movie, Mayookam, is running
in this theatre. The management has
decided to stop all screenings after
July 6th . One of the spokespersons
at the theatre said, "We spend
lakhs of rupees and buy movies and
screen them. The next day itself,
DVDs and VCDs of the same movie hit
the stands and we are badly affected.
Apart from that, many Tamil satellite
channels have burgeoned, because of
which, many people prefer to stay
at home. Our crowds have reduced dramatically
and so have our profits.
|
|
|
|
Since
our theatre is located in a prime location,
in the heart of Mount Road, we have decided
to capitalize on that and convert this into
a shopping complex. We are thinking of building
two mini-theatres as well, but it is all
in the planning stages. Let's see how it
goes." |
|
|
|
|
|
