As a couple of my friends and I headed towards the coffee machine during a break from our training lectures (such is corporate life), we talked about our weekend plans and if there were any films that we could watch. The much hyped Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was slated for release that week, and that left us with only the theatre to be decided. My first suggestion, off the top of my head, was Sathyam Cinemas (we would ultimately watch the movie at AGS T. Nagar, taking ticket availability and location into consideration). To this, one of my friends remarked, “No way. I’m not coming to Sathyam. One of my worst theatre experiences in Chennai.” The other friend and I were perplexed, outraged even. No one in our lifetimes ever had anything negative to say about Sathyam Cinemas.
I think it is fair now to give a little background about my two friends and myself. Geetha* had spent all her life in Chennai, while I had spent half my life in the capital of Tamil Nadu. Our other friend Suresh*, however, was from Madurai, and had only spent one year in Chennai prior to settling down there two months ago for work. By now, it becomes obvious that it was Suresh who had objected to my suggestion.
At that moment, it made me pause and wonder whether Geetha and I had attached sentimental value to an entity that no longer lived up to its name.
It was July, 2009. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had just released and it had been more than 3 months since my family first moved to Chennai. As we slowly settled into the hustle and bustle of the urban Indian lifestyle, my brother and I were adamant that this adaptation process, despite it causing considerable stress to our parents, should not come in the way of us Potterheads watching the latest installment of the franchise.
Soon, my brother and I were chugging along in an auto, and as we turned right onto Thiruvika Road under the Peters Road Flyover, we were greeted by the massive facade, draped in the ever vibrant posters, of what would become our favourite theatre/multiplex in the city. That day, I did not marvel at the sheer magnitude of the dimensions of the posters, but in my own time, as I shall narrate later, I would be mesmerized. The interiors, however, did not fail to leave an immediate impression on me, or my brother. With all the contempt of typical Indians who had just returned from abroad, we agreed that the designing was not bad at all. It was modern, elegant and simple. Settling into our cushion seats, over the next 2.5 hours, we would go through our first Indian cinematic experience. There were plenty of hoots and whistles, right from the introduction scenes for Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. This atmosphere, along with the international standard AV system meant that we walked out of the theatre not wholly disappointed, because when has a Harry Potter movie ever captured the depth of the books?
When The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn released in 3D in late 2011, it would be the first time I went to the theatre with my closest cousins. When The Avengers came out in April 2012, it would be the first time I went for a movie with my friends. Later, I would go on to discover Blur, the gaming lounge within the complex, where I have now spent countless hours playing FIFA, Call of Duty and whatnot. In 2016, it would be the first time I truly grasped the size of the poster on the facade, as Rajnikanth, seated majestically on an armchair with one leg over the other, gazed into the distance.
Needless to say, I have made some of my best memories there, be it with family or friends. Over the course of the years, Sathyam Cinemas would remain my go to hangout spot.
And over the years, I would gradually discern the iconic status that the multiplex had attained in the city. It was the theatre that movie stars visited to catch the films of other stars. It was the theatre where big audio launches happened. It was the theatre that was being referenced in Kollywood films. It was the theatre to which you took your date to if you wanted to impress them. It was the theatre that gave Chennai an identity when every other Indian city had PVRs and Inoxes.
You may ask, “Aren’t you simply glorifying an ordinary multiplex?”. And you may be right. I may be heavily biased towards Sathyam despite there being so many other quality theatres in the city. My more recent visits to Blur had left me disappointed with the maintenance, so much so that I have found cheaper alternatives for better experiences within its vicinity. The cinematic experience remains the same to the point where one could say, it had stagnated? You may complain that the viewing angles aren’t exactly great in some of the screens.
But now, I’ll state the facts. A decade has flown by since my first visit, and since then, SPI Cinemas (the company that owns Sathyam Cinemas) has made an indelible mark on the multiplex landscape of the city. It has opened swanky (and sometimes grandiose) multiplexes in malls all across Chennai (Escape, S2 Perambur, Luxe, Palazzo) while also quietly revamping and modernizing a local theatre (S2 Theyagaraja). Sathyam Cinemas was the first theatre in India to introduce Dolby Atmos, the cutting edge technology that revolutionized audio in theatres. And how can I complete this article without mentioning their popcorn and their famed seasoning? The city loves its popcorn, and this article is a testament to that.
However, all has not been rosy. The internet is full of conspiracy theories concerning political interventions and the likes ever since Jazz Cinemas took over Luxe. In August 2018, PVR announced its acquisition of SPI Cinemas, a move that was met with mixed response. Whatever the obstacle may be, one can only hope that they stand the test of time without losing their DNA. I would want that, and I think so would Chennai.
*name changed
