Chennai’s Anand Theatre was the ‘OG’ for the city’s old film-buffs

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A view of Anand Theatre at Anna Salai in Chennai. File | Photo Credit: M. Vedhan

In the year of 1964, the Madras State saw two 70mm theatres in fairly close succession, but the one to stake its claim as “the first 70mm theatre of South India” was Anand theatre. It was built on Mount Road by G. Umapathy who ran Uma Printers. On August 22, 1964, this modern theatre was inaugurated by former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, the president of the Congress party at the time.

About two days later, its inaugural film, the historical drama El Cid premiered and drew many notable personalities, including M. Bhaktavatsalam, then Chief Minister of the Madras State. For many of the film buffs of Chennai, Anand was more of a ritual where they went to watch English films.

A dermatologist and resident of Chennai, Arjun Mathuranayagam, remembers being taken there by his parents, who were “the biggest film buffs”, particularly through the 60s, 70s, and 80s. “Anand holds the record for the longest unbroken run by any English movie in Madras History — Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon — at 54 weeks,” says Dr. Mathuranayagam. He also clearly remembers the theatre as much as the films he watched there. “The screen was massive and deeply curved so as to completely cover a 70mm Super Panavision projection in all its glory,” he adds, pointing out how nothing comes quite close to Anand today.

Subsequently, Little Anand theatre was built in the same complex, where Tamil films such as Vennira Aadai had a long and successful run. Retired Chennai resident Rajamani Rajkumar has fond memories of the theatre. He says the proximity of Anand and Little Anand allowed audiences at Anand to sometimes faintly hear the dialogues from the film playing next door. “I grew up in Mylapore, and used to reach Anand in less than 15 minutes in the 70s with no traffic. I remember watching so many English films, which were all brought to India two years after their release abroad,” says Mr. Rajkumar.

Even as a child, Mr. Rajkumar remembers watching films such as Arabesque , a spy comedy thriller at Anand. It was the 2001: Space Odyssey that stayed with him. “After watching the film, my father took me to meet theatre owner G. Umapathy, and I had some cool drinks at his office,” reminisces Mr. Rajkumar. “There were snacks sold at the theatre, but some also went to McRennett nearby before heading for the film. During the 60s and 70s, people watched the films at Anand with so much discipline,” he adds.

The crowd eventually thinned by the 1990s, and in the early 2000s, Anand felt the tides turning. A Behindwoods report in 2006 quoted a spokesperson from Anand theatre as saying that movie piracy had significantly affected the theatre’s profits and all screenings were stopped permanently. That is how the theatre was eventually removed from Mound Road. But landmarks do not disappear that easily.