Speakers blared out popular yesteryear numbers, people opted for the thara (sand filled ground) ticket costing Rs.5 to watch their stars on the big screen, the murukku selling boy in a sprightly voice invited the crowd to taste the crispy snack…
Inside the world of tent kottayi (touring talkies)city’s cinema-crazy people relived tinsel town’s make-believe world. It used to be a major source of entertainment. Earlier there were 20 to 30 touring talkies in Madurai. Now only one is left which has a daily evening screening. “We don’t screen new releases but only old popular movies. Now people coming to watch it is also dwindling,” says M. Swaminathan, who has been running the Lakshmi Touring Talkies for more than 45 years in Tirupparankundram.
He rues touring talkies has lost its place to the sophisticated cinema halls. If at all, tent kottayi is remembered more for the experience of community gathering than the entertainment value.
“Watching a film in touring talkies was always exciting,” says R.Murali, Principal, Madura College. “Though there were benches and chairs, people preferred to sit on the sand filled ground to see the movie. There was an instant audience connect. I associate touring talkies with black and white movies.”
“The day when Oliyum Oliyum was telecast on TV, it marked the end of touring talkies,” says Swaminathan. “Everyday the satellite television shows 25 to 30 films. How can we expect crowd at our theatres,” he asks.
To grab peoples’ attention, the screen at this theatre is dotted with dancing lights that flicker to the music and song playing on the screen. “Those days theatre owners would distribute pamphlets to announcethe list of movies scheduled for screening. There were no permanent touring talkies then. Films were screened under thatched roof at different spots. After a fire accident in Tuticorin in 1979, the then State Government banned the use of thatched roof. Nowadays, light roof material (sheets made of waste plastics and tar) is used as a permanent roof at one spot,” says R.S. Rajan, Secretary, Yadharthaa Federation of Film Societies of India.
Earlier, the touring talkies owners would pitch their tents at a place to cash in on the festival season or near some temple during the temple festival in that particular area. “I remember watching a movie when I was in fourth standard. Then, culture of going to a theatre was entirely different, it was a family affair. I remember travelling from Uchipulli village to a nearby place called Ranganathapuram carrying torches in hand in the night to watch MGR’s Padakotti ,” recalls M. Shanmugarajan, film actor.
Touring talkies used to be a place where people would sink all differences, economic or caste, and watch films together. Emotionally-driven, they felt proud to be identified as fans of a star. The rivalry between the MGR and Sivaji Ganesan fans are well known in these parts.
Touring talkies also played a major role during elections. They became an effective medium for canvassing. Dr.Murali describes it as a phenomenon that became a folk tradition breaking the class and caste barrier.
Touring talkies offered pure entertainment for less money. The benched ticket costs Rs.10 and if one chooses to take a chair, it costs another three rupees. This was also the place where small cyclostyled books carrying the lyrics of the songs from the movie sold like hot cakes. But alas, all this will soon become history when the last of the touring talkies at Tirupparankundram downs its shutters in three years.
