Climax to Thangam Theatre — it's razed down

August 15, 2011 10:57 am | Updated 11:03 am IST - MADURAI

IT IS A HISTORY NOW: A file photo of Thangam theatre in the city. Photo: S. James

IT IS A HISTORY NOW: A file photo of Thangam theatre in the city. Photo: S. James

Cinema is capable of bringing together people from different strata of society who otherwise hardly would have met or been in social contact with one another and it does promote democratisation of cultural consumption.

Thangam Theatre, credited as the largest cinema hall in Asia during its inception, was one of the landmarks of Madurai, a city known for its vibrant popular culture and history of festivity and related cultural edifices.

The cinema hall, located on the West Perumal Maistry Street, could seat 2,563 persons officially, spread over more than 52,000 square feet, and which gave the movie-goers a unique visual experience because of its technically superior structure. It has become history after it was demolished after its ownership changed hands.

The cinema was built by Pitchai Muthu who is considered as a key figure in the film industry. It was one of the spaces in Madurai where the city's poor and rich, literate and illiterate rubbed shoulders to watch the histrionics of their icons and gaze at their favourite female stars.

The emergence of cinema halls during the 1930s 40s and 50s was seen as an important public space with a democratising potential and was also seen anxiously by the elites and sections of the middle classes. The increasing popularity of the cinema among the lower caste-class groups, particularly with the beginning of the ‘talkie era' in the 1930s, was a sign of its increasing importance as an institution of the public sphere.

Marxist Scholar Karthigesu Sivathamby says, “The Cinema Hall was the first performance centre in which all Tamils sat under the same roof. The basis of the seating is not on the hierarchic position of the patron but essentially on his purchasing power. If he cannot afford paying the higher rate, he has either to keep away from the performance or be with ‘all and sundry.'”

Sivathamby's statement suggests that cinema had tremendous democratic potential in a context where distinctions of caste have played a crucial role in determining access to public places, including temples, village water sources and even streets.

Social scientist M. S. S. Pandian, in one of his famous works, reads the response of ‘cultural elites' as a reaction to cinema's emergence as a social equalizer : The arrival of talkies in Tamil during the 1930s was received with much enthusiasm by the lower class film audience. However, such Subaltern enthusiasm for this new form of leisure was simultaneously accompanied by enormous anxiety among the upper caste/class elites.

Thangam Theatre had drawn crowds from distant places in Madurai and nearby areas. It was more like a big play ground, remember many movie goers who had the experience to see a film there.

Two significant films in Tamil cinema's history and also political history were released in Thangam Theatre and ran very successfully. Films Parasakthi , released in 1952, and Nadodi Mannan in 1958 were mega hits.

Parasakthi was one of the first movies to be screened in the theatre. Completion works in the theatre went on while the movie was being screened. The movie, largely seen as a turning point in Tamil film history, had fire spitting dialogues of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, delivered by the debutant Sivaji Ganesan, who rose to become a legend.

Mr. Pandian refers that Parasakthi was a significant film in the DMK's political history, “Memorizing the film's dialogues was a must for aspiring political orators during that time and afterwards too and when the ‘Screenplay and Dialogues: Karunanidhi' was flashed on the screen there were claps which shook the theatre, in fact it became a film that was listened to rather than watched, thus making all the other elements take a backseat.”

MGR's important film Nadodi Mannan ran for more than 175 days at the theatre, film scholars say that the film, MGR's own production was indeed a film which decided his future and was also the one which brought him closer to the people of Madurai and the bond continues even after his demise.

The theatre provided a great visual experience; an expansive screen which used American-made projectors and was so aesthetically designed with great craftsmanship that people could watch a movie from any corner.

K. Govindan, Film Researcher and author of two books on Tamil Cinema, felt that the theatre is a national asset and should have been appropriated and archived by the Government. It should have been made into a children's theatre or education theatre. The theatre had a large vacant space in the front and it was also a tall building with adequate ventilation.

It is interesting to note that the film distributors who wanted to have a quick collection during those days chose Thangam theatre as they could get the needed revenue within a week. But for films of stars who wished to keep their star value intact Thangam theatre could be the last choice as during those days the star value was connected with the number of days the film ran. If a film was shown for 50 days in this theatre, it was like being shown for 100 days in other theatres because of the seating capacity.

V.M.Rajendran, 60, who owns a small shop repairing bags, recalled that Thangam theatre apart from Prem Nivas lodge was the only big building on the street during those days and all these new building came up in 1990s.

He recalled that none of the Rajnikanth's or Kamal Hassan's movies released here were big hits, films like Adi Parasakthi , a devotional multi starrer which came in 1971 ran for 250 days, Karimedu Karuvayan , 1986 story of a folk based hero with class interests, Chinnanchiru Ulagam, a Gemini Ganesan starrer, Sivaji's Enga Mama, K.Bhagyaraj's Thooral Ninnu Pochu ran successfully.

He also remembered that when Jaishankar's Athaiya Mamiya was released in 1974, other theatre owners went on strike. Thangam theatre screened six shows daily and the tickets were Rs 1.10, Rs. 1.75 and Rs 4.50, I vividly remember that as a youngster I sold many Rs.4.50 tickets for Rs.20. During the later days, the theatre screened Hindi films and English movies, Yaadon Ki Baarat ran for packed house and a couple of Bruce Lee movies were received well by the audience remembers, said A.Ramakrishnan, (70) ticket collector, Kalpana Cinema Hall Madurai who lives in the next lane near Thangam theatre.

It was also said that moviegoers used to come to the theatre in horse drawn coaches in the 1960s. The theatre was closed down in 1990 and then after three months they reopened it but were not able to sustain and remained closed for almost two decades. Many movie-goers in Madurai felt that it would be really difficult to build a theatre like that.

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