Cinema in Chennai

I watched couple of movies in the new Express Mall when i visited Chennai in November 2010. Express Mall is the latest mall to be added in Chennai and they have a nice cineplex on the third level called "Escape". I was reminded of the good old days.

Three decades back there were very few theatres which had multiple screens in Chennai. Devi Theatre (Devi, Devi Paradise, Devi Bala); Saffire Theatre (Saffire, Blue Diamond and Emerald); Sathyam Theatre (Sathyam, Santham, Subham).

In those days there were only three shows 2.30 p.m., 6.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. Some of the theatres would have 11 a.m. show which was popularly known as the Morning Show. The 2.30 p.m. show was called Matinee; 6.30 p.m. was known as Evening Show and the 10.30 p.m. show was called Night Show. Later they started having four shows 1, 4, 7 and 10 p.m. Anna Theatre which was opened next to Shanti Theatre (behind GeeGee complex) was the first to start 4 shows with 1, 4, 7, 10 timings.

I did not see any film in the night show as my parents would never allow us to go for night show (which is what i practice now with my children as i also do not allow my children to watch night show).

Blue Diamond was the only theatre to have continuous shows and hence you could get in anytime and watch the movie from the middle and you could get out whenever you feel like (even after watching the movies several times). I heard that was a cozy and comfortable place for lot of young lovers in the 1970s and 1980s..

I remember watching my first English Film in "Children's Theatre" which later became Kalaivanar Arangam (recently it has been demolished). I watched the film "Its a Mad Mad Mad World".

Paragon Theatre in Walajah Road used to be my favourite as they used to always screen old films. I have seen Pasamalar, Pava Mannippu, Rathakkanneer, Then Nilavu, Thiruvilayaadal, Aalayamani, Bale Pandiya, etc. in that theatre. I used to go with my school days friend Ramesh Babu. We used to watch the same movie two or three times.

Noorjahan Talkies near the Saidapet Bridge was a theatre i dreaded the most. While you are seriously watching the movie you would feel some heavy crawling on your foot. "Peruchaali" used to run over the legs. When i went to that theatre for the second time i kept my feet on the seat throughtout the film as i was scared of the peruchaali running over my feet.

Plaza Theatre next to the Devi Theatre (you have to walk a good 500 meters from Mount Road to reach the theatre) was another popular theatre as i have watched a few Jaishankar films there with my father. I have seen Thunive Thunai, Jambu, etc., in that theatre with my father. After watching Thunive Thunai we came back home and my mother was very curious to know about the film and she kept asking my father "padam eppudi erunthathu". My father has enormous sense of humour and he quipped "padam nallathan erunthathu peru thaan seriyille". After a few minutes he said "thuniye thunainu peru vachirunthaalna nanna erunthirukkum".

I have watched "Anna Poorani" first day first show in Bhuvaneswari theatre in Tiruvottiyur. I went with my parents and we had to change two buses to reach the theatre.

I watched Yadon Ki Bharat in Star Theatre on Triplicane High Road. Every now and then i was pestering my father to tell me what was happening. He was terribly bugged by me throughout the film as i did not understand any of the dialogues. When we came home he tole my mother "Yadon Ki Bharat cinema pakkanum". My mother said "eppothane paathuttu vandeengo". My father said "Naan enga cinema pathen ethu en pakkathula okkanthundu thonakkottinde erunthathu".

Alankar was opened in those days and i have seen "Raiders of the last Ark" and few tamil films there. Some of the other theatres that i have known are Midland, Geity, Odean, Chitra Talkies, Broadway, Mekala, Ram.

I have seen some horror films those days like Exhaursist, Omen, Friday the 13th. There were lot of Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin films those days which was real fun to watch. We also used to see the "Carry On" series which was again fun.

I also remember some of the great films like Mackenna's Gold, Enter the Dragon, Bees, Kramer Vs.Kramer, Three Mosquiteers. The tamil poster for some of these films used to be very funny - "Mackennavin Vairam"; "moondru MGR Veerargal".

We had a choice of English, Tamil and Hindi movies to watch in those days in Chennai.

Good old days..........

Grand Sweets Sweats

Whenever I am in Chennai I go to Grand Sweets in Adyar. It is a great shop to visit and purchase mouth watering sweets and savouries. They also have some ready made stuff like Pulikachal, Tomato Thokku, etc. You can also treat yourself to a hot Adai or Kuzhi Paniyaaram or Sambar Vadai and offlate even hot jelabi.

I visited the shop just before Deepavali and found lot of renovation work being carried out. One of the staff members informed my wife that the sisters who bequethed the shop are now splitting the business into two.

I went to Grand Sweets today and found the whole place in a chaotic mess. The shop has been divided into two and there is a 9 inch wall in the middle to separate the two divisions. The staff, customers and onlookers are all sweating. It is sad to see that the same set of staff and same set of customers, were transacting with so much ease just a few weeks back, when it was a unified shop and today when the shop is divided into two there is still lot of sweet and lot of sweat. The same old staff are struggling now to cater to the customers, do the billing, delivery and there is too much confusion and chaos in the whole place. Some of the popular items that "Thattai" is not available in both the divisions.

Regular customers like me will have difficulty going to Grand Sweets as we do not know which division to walk into and what to expect??? I was rather disappointed with the shopping experience i got today at Grand Sweets. The sweets are still there in two divisions under the same roof but the Grandier and Comfort of buying the sweet is not there any more.

19th November 2010

Sigarangalin Sangamam

True to its name the function "Sigarangalin Sangamam" was a congregation of great personalities who are each a Sigaram in their own way. On stage we had P.Suseela, T.M.Soundararajan, P.B.Srinivas, K.J.Yesudas, Balamurali Krishna, Vani Jayaram, L.R.Eswari, A.L.Raghavan, Chitra, Mano and Hariharan. RMKV organised this programme in Nehru Indoor Stadium on Sunday, 14th November 2010.

P.Suseela Music Trust honoured three legends - TMS, PBS and Yesudas.

P.Suseela started the show with her old song "Unnai kaanadha kannum kannalla". It was very soothing to listen to that song after a long time. This was followed by another P.Suseela hit "Unnai ondru kaetten unmai solla vendum" rendered by the great Chinna Kuyil Chitra. L.R.Eswari rendered one of her all time super hit songs "Kaathodu thaan naan paaduven". While the pallavi was sung well she found it hard to sing the rest of the song due to her old age.

Unni Menon sang with P.Suseela "Kaalidasan Kannadasan kavidai nee nerungi vaa padikkalam". P.Suseela's daughter-in-law Sandya then sang "kaalai thendral paadi varum raagam oru raagam". I am listening to Sandya for the first time and she has a very good voice.

Hariharan sang two songs "Ennai thaalatta varuvaala" and "Aayiram Nilavae vaa".
Hari did not practice this SPB hit and could not render justice to the song. Mano came on stage to sing the great TMS song "Ado anda paravai pola vaazha vendum". While he was struggling to reach the high pitch notes the audience was recalling the TMS original in their minds.

TMS, PBS attempted to sing and could not succeed in singing well due to advanced age. They have given such great numbers and the audience enjoyed their presence on stage. When they were singing the great old numbers the entire audience would have rolled back a few decades into the real time when those songs hit the big screen.

A.L.Raghavan surprised everyone by singing the song "Enginrunthaalum Vaazhgha" and it was a treat to listen to him. He sang with ease and voice was excellent despite his age.

Vani Jayaram also sang very well the great P.Suseela number "Aalaya maniyin osaiyai naan kaetten".

Balamurali Krishna sang very well despite his advanced age. He sang the song "Thanga Ratham Vandadu veediyile" with P.Suseela. It was a fantastic presentation by both of them. Balamurali's singing was the highlight of the evening - what a fantastic performer.

Harish Raghavendra got a chance to sing with P.Suseela "thuyilaatha pen ondru kanden". It is a great honour and chance for this young budding singer to perform with the legend in front of other legends. The joy, pride and happiness was all over the faces of his parents.

Yesudas came as the last performer and stole the show with with two great hits "vizhiye kadai yezhudu" and "poove senpoove un vaasal varum".

Staying in Dubai has its own advantages but nothing to beat the advantage of staying in Chennai where one gets to attend these musical nights and other programmes at regular intervals.... I do not miss any of these programmes whenever i am in Chennai.

Vaali 1000

I was really fotunate enough to attend the programme "Vaali 1000" last night at Narada Gana Sabha. It was a twin function to celebrate the 80th Birthday of Vaali and also to release a compilation of 1000 songs written by Vaali for tamil films. He has written several thousand songs and is soon to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for penning maximum number of songs for films.

The programme started with a few memorable film songs of Vaali which was presented in Bharata Natyam. The dance arrangement for Dhasavatharam Song - Mukunda Mukunda - was terrific.

The book was released by Kamal Haasan. Felicitations were offered by Cho Ramaswamy, P.Suseela, Nalli Kuppusamy Chetty, Saroja Devi, M.S.Viswanathan, S.P.Muthuraman, Director Shankar, Surya, Kamal, Rajini, Vairamuthu, S.P.Balasubramaniam, Palani Bharathy and others.

The auditorium was full and several people watched the programme by standing. I was fortunate to get a seat around 7.30.

Super Star Rajini stormed into the Auditorium at 9 p.m. with Vairamuthu - he surprised everyone including Vaali. SPB was rendering some of the super hits of Vaali and had to abruptly stop singing when Rajini walked into the stage as there was a thunderous applause to welcome the Super Star on stage. SPB must have felt humiliated and insulted as he was forced to stop singing due to the applause for Rajini. After the super star storm settled SPB continued to sing as if nothing had happened. What a great singer he is. At 64 his voice is still the same as what i have heard 30 years ago...

Vaali dedicated his entire success to M.S.Viswanathan and honoured him with a momento and cash of Rs.2 lacs. Vaali's thanks giving speech was excellent and when he spoke i really felt like listening to a youngster. He is 80 years old and is still very young at heart. The kind of songs he has written over the last 50 years is testimony to his youth which is still continuing.

Vaali's songs were one of the key factors that helped the great MGR to become Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Vadivelu, T.M.Soundararajan, P.B.Srinivas, Vaani Jeyaram and Krishna Sweets owner are some of them who came on stage to honour Vaali.

Overall it was a very nice programme and a great feeling to see such great achievers on the stage.

14th November 2010

HAPPY DIWALI

I wish you all a very happy Diwali.

There is a lot of talk about the crackers, pollution, child labour, etc.

I enjoy the fireworks in Triplicane in the evening around Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Temple. It is really a treat to watch.

I also enjoy watching fireworks in the Dubai Creek during Dubai Shopping Festival.

Enjoy the festivities tomorrow with lot of fun, lot of sweets and lots and lots of happiness..

T.P.Anand
Chennai, 4th November 2010