Vasu Ramanujam's Blog

You remember, there was this movie called Cinema Paradiso, which revolved around an old man and his grandson trying to revive an old theater in a non descript italian town.

Last time I visited coimbatore, i felt little bit like Alfredo, when I walked past the Shanmuga Theatre on Mettupalayam road, near Poo market ( Flower market)… This was pretty close to home and my mom tells me that it was pretty famous once upon a time, circa 1970′s.

My first movie theater experience, as far as i can remember, was in Rainbow theater. I distinctly remember this, because, my dad was a great fan of English/Western movies and movie outing was an event in itself.For a movie that would start at 6:30 PM, my mom would get all worked up even by 3:30 pm. Also, there would be three bottles of  Trinka , different flavours( yes, true, there was a brand called Trinka at that time, similar to Rasna) all refrigerated and waiting to be sipped. I always remember my dad wearing a white kurtha/pyjama and like a little zamindar or sthing, he would wave for an auto which would stop by at our place. For a middle class family, the Auto was a luxury and with much fanfare, we would embark on the journey towards the theater. 

“Gods must be Crazy” was the movie, i think. All I remember was laughing hysterically at the native african waiting for the coca-cola bottle….and ofcourse, me waiting for Trinka to be served in small steel cups that my mom packed, along with Sri Krishna Sweets… I don’t remember Mysorepa being famous then.

Anyways, back to movie/theaters..

Being  in R.S.puram meant that we had easy access to atleast 4 to 5 theaters. From the top of my head, I remember

1. Shanmuga Theater – used to be a super duper theater once, but in the late 90′s degenerated to screening soft porn/ x rated movies… I distinctly remember watching “kulebagavali” starring MGR and “Maya bazaar”, one of my all time favorites in this theater. I did watch, along with some of my friends, some other movies that will not find a mention here . 

2. Archana/ Darsana – > All the latest movies with big star names/cast used to screen here… predominantly Rajini movies with huge banners/rasigar manrams jamming the entire area. I probably frequented this theater more than anything else, as it was maintained pretty neat, and ofcourse, because of its proximity to my home. I remember watching Mudhal Mariyadhai ( which ran for an eternity), Nayakan, Thalapathi , Guna and countless other movies..

3. Central/ Kanakadhara –> Central, the bigger of the two, was the favorite theater to screen the latest English flicks. Kanakadhara focused on screening Hindi movies. Some of my most memorable movies here include Quamat se Quamat tak ( which I believe was the first movie in Kanakadhara or was it Fast Forward), Hercules, Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles dare, countless Bond movies…. The other thing i remember about Central was its canteen which was unenviably placed near the men’s bathroom, but nevertheless served tasty “keerai vadai/paruppu vadai”. 

4. Maruthi Theater  - It was competing with Central but their focus area was mainly B- grade English flicks. I remember watching a few Jackie chan movies here.

5. Kennedy Theater – It used to be famous, but I don’t remember seeing any movies in this theater.

6. Apsara Theater – Located near the central bus stand in Gandhipuram, this one also used to screen Hindi movies. but later degenerated into screening what in the local parlance was called the “bit” movies…movies interspesed with mallu sleazy scenes. Initially, they used to screen Jackie Chan movies, who probably had a huge following even then, what with his Protector running for more than 100+ days, i think..

7. Carnatic Theater – I dont even remember where this is located now…

8. Kavitha Theater - I may have got this wrong, but this one was close to the Gandhipuram bus stand. All I remember is that Ramarajan/Murali/Vijaykanth movies used to be screened here.. I guess, he knew his market profile very well

9. Shanti (?) Theater - Near the railway station…

Apart from these, there were others within the city, the most famous of them being KG complex  on Race Course road with 4 screens (10 -14. Ragam/Thanam/Pallavi/ Anupallavi) and the Karpagam Complex with three screens ( 15-17 Ganga/Yamuna/Kaveri) which screened predominantly tamil movies. Anupallavi was a small screen theater, pretty much like what we see in today’s multiplexes..

18/19. GP Geetham/Preetham – These were in Ganapathy, but this theater was owned by my dad’s friend, so I was privy to some of the prescreenings of some movies. I even ventured into the operators room once.I even ventured into the operators room once and viewed the movie through the projector screen/lens. It was an awesome experience.

20. Sivasakthi theater – Located in the heart of Saibaba colony, this finds mention for the sole reason that it had exclusive “sofa sets” in the balcony -much like your PVR cinemas- Gold class. Not to mention its “world class  audio  system” ( I would like to believe it was Bose) which was so unique that people outside, on the street, or people residing in nearby homes ( like my friend), could hear the dialogues much better than the folks who were inside . Mostly, this theater used to screen re-runs on ‘second’ screenings of hit movies. 

oh well…now I feel like Cheran, and I should start singing “Nybagam varudhe, Nyabagam varudhe“……