I’m not sure about the other states in India, but in Tamil Nadu one can easily find a theater named “Central” in majority of places. Starting from Salem, which is the land of cinema halls (Once there were more than 100 cinema theaters in Salem), there is one named as Central in Coimbatore, which I think is still functioning. This is article talks about the Central theaters in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.
Both theaters have distinct features when compared to the others in the town. Dharmapuri Central is the eldest of the two, so let’s talk about it first.
Bioscopic Sound System
I was in Dharmapuri for my Under Graduation. This was the time when “The Matrix” was released and this was my first film in this theater. My friend who took me said it got a good sound system and it is the best in town. He also said it is the only place they sell black papered Chancellor cigarette!
We bought the ticket and went inside. He went straight to the stall to buy the cigarette. I started to browse through the trophies. Then they used to keep them in the descending order… 300 days, 200 days, 100 days trophies. Amidst the trophies, I found this writing “This theater is been installed with Bioscopic Sound System”. When the movie started I could feel the difference in sound (Remember there was no DTS/Dolby in the town then). When Morpheus started fighting Neo, I can feel the punches landing next to me and when Neo dodges the bullets, I felt the bullets went past me. There started the journey, whenever a Hollywood movie was released there in Central, my attendance was there without fail.
Panavision
Back in my hometown, Krishnagiri Central had already made an impact among the movie goers. Their sound system was so heavy that the Gandhi Nagar people living nearby the theater had raised a complaint to the municipality.
For few months the sound system was in high decibels, this was a treat to the movie lovers, but then they had to cut-down the sound. This Central was called as Central Panavision. I asked the popcorn vendor about thingee, he said the projector lenses are from an American company called Panavision. I realize now that Panavision does manufacture these kinds of accessories, but they don’t sell it, all of their products are for rent, so I’m not entirely sure about the popcorn vendor’ story, but the screen size was the widest among the other theaters. The climax scenes in the movie The Abyss was awe-inspiring, it was a jaw dropping moment.
I went chill when I saw the re-released Evil Dead in 1990’s. To my knowledge Evil Dead was the only English film to have a huge cut-out (I now regret that I didn't have a camera then). When pan India releases of the Hollywood films were rare, Central went on to release Hollywood movies on the first day of the pan India release.
What once a movie lover’s paradise is now an urban ghost building. Closed few years back is now almost collapsed; only rats and snakes live there. When small town theaters are getting closed, they have to find some innovate ways to pull the crowd, but what can a theater owner do the name of innovation, when most of the films are cliched. These small town theaters are depended on good films.
Trivia
There is a theater named "K" in Krishnagiri. To my knowledge, I think this the only theater in India, in fact might in the world to have a shortest name with a single letter!!.
This April 18th is celebrated as Cinema Theater Day. This is the day when Swamikannu Vincent, the pioneer who built the first cinema hall in South India was born. This post is for the blogging contest by Cinema Theater Day www.cinematheaterday.in
If you are interested, write a post about your cinema theater experience and post it on www.cinematheaterday.in/blog-contest/
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