Shanthi theatre to turn a commercial complex
Posted on: 17/May/2016 3:56:58 PM
A chennaite without knowing Shanthi theatre is definitely an exclamation statement. There are rarely a few who do not know the theatre which always commemorates the legendary actor Shivaji Ganesan. To everyone’s surprise, the theatre is now set to get demolished and turn into a commercial complex.
For those of you who do not know, the theatre was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Kamarajar on 12th January 1961. During those times, the only air conditioned theatre was it.
The very first film that hit the screens here was Thooya Ullam starring Nageshwara Rao. The film was bilingual and got released in Tamil as well as Telugu. During the same year, on 16th March, Paava Mannippu starring Shivaji Ganeshan hit the screens here. This film got marked as the very first Shivaji film to get released here.
Following this, on 11th October 2006, one more theatre was opened in the name Sai Shanthi. The theatre was inaugurated by actor Kamal Hassan. After about 55 years of launch, Shanthi theatre is now set to get converted as a shopping complex. The time has come for the theatre to get shut down. The last film to get released here will be Suriya starrer ’24.
The theatre has released over 85 films starring Shivaji of which 35 of them ran for over 100 days. About a 6 films enjoyed silver jubilee. Chinna Thambi starring Prabhu ran for 205 days. Rajini starrer Chandramuki ran for 202 days for three shows a day. And the same film ran for 808 days as one show a day. This marked a huge milestone in the theatre.
Hindi film Sangam got released in 1964 and ran for 188 days. This stopped Shivaji starrer Pudhiya Paravai from getting released here. Hence Shivaji’s film got released in Paragan.
The minimum ticket price during 1961 was 0.85 paise and Rs 2 for balcony ticket. Other tickets of different classes were priced Rs 1.25 and R s 1.66.
