Over the past 4 months, we’ve conducted Mastermind Kerala 1.0 over Zoom.

One of the topics chosen in the final heat of the event was this: Movie Theatres in Kerala.

Here’s a thread on interesting info I found while setting these questions.

#Malayalamcinema #Malayalamfilms

1. The first permanent movie theatre in #Kerala was set up in #Thrissur by Kattookkaran Varunny Joseph (as Jos Bioscope Projections), following his bioscope shows at #ThrissurPooram. It exists today as Jos Theatre in the heart of the city in the Round.

2. One of the projectors used by Joseph was exhibited for a long time at #Sapna in Thrissur, a theatre founded by his family. It was finally handed over to the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy in 2020. Sapna, incidentally, took life as Rama Varma theatre in the 1930s.

3. #Kozhikode’s premier theatre #Crown was set up in the early 20th century and changed hands multiple times to end up with an Iyer family from Palakkad. They wanted it to stand out from the rest, and thus began the Crown tradition of exclusively screening English films.

4. When Crown became a #70mm theatre in 1970, they marked the occasion by screening Charlton Heston’s ‘ #Khartoum, which told the story of British General Charles Gordon’s defense of the city of Khartoum during a mid-1880s siege.

#Malayalamcinema #Kozhikode #Calicut

5. Crown has been a favorite haunt for millions over the years. The visitor list includes Malayalam author #MTVasudevanNair, who was inspired to make his first film #Nirmalyam after watching #Satyajit Ray’s #PatherPanchali at Crown (which ran for just 3 days!).

6. #Palakkad’s first theatre Gowder came up in 1925 thanks to a businessman named Thirumalai who named it after his Mandya clan. Gowder has screened the first Malayalam talkie ‘Balan’ and even played host to events featuring names such as #LKAdvani.

7. Veeriah Reddiar, grandfather to #BeenaKannan, sowed the seeds of textile revolution in #Kerala by opening the first #Seematti store in 1910 in #Alappuzha. The Alappuzha movie theatres Veeriah and Seematti were both tributes to this pioneering businessman.

8. #Alappuzha also is home to #Vidya theatre (now PAN cinemas) which was inaugurated by legendary singer #Yesudas in 1980. The theatre’s identity is the distinctive statue of Shakambari Devi at its entrance. The ear-rings of the statue are, in fact, tyres of a lorry!

9. The statue was designed by Malayalam film director #RajeevAnchal, who has films such as Butterflies and Guru to his credit. Rajeev Anchal would be familiar to everyone in his avatar as a sculptor for being the designer of the #Jatayu statue at Chadayamangalam.

10. #Wayanad accounts for a majority of the #Jain population in Kerala, and this is reflected in the name of a film theatre in the administrative HQ #Kalpetta, named Mahaveer.

11. #Poonthanam Namboothiri was a famous 17th century poet and a devotee of #Guruvayurappan, who lived in #Malappuram district. He is best known for his masterpiece #Jnanappana, a devotional prayer to the deity.

12. His residence, Poonthanam Illam, is a major tourist destination in the district. The poet and his residence are both remembered through the theatre named Illam Cinemas, located in the nearby town of #Pandikkad.

13. No discussion about theatres in Kerala is complete without a mention of Ragam in Thrissur. Ragam was the city’s biggest building (excluding the temples) when it came up in 1974, with a screening Ramu Kariat’ Nellu ( #LataMangeshkar’s only appearance in Malayalam).

14. Many theatres in #Kerala have curtains in front of their screens. These are raised prior to a show and the process is often accompanied by a curtain raiser song. Ragam arguably has the best choice in this regards - German band Kraftwerk’s ‘Robots’.

15. #Kavitha theatre in #Ernakulam opened in the second half of the 1960s and was constructed by its owner Babu Sait from the profits of the legendary Malayalam film #Chemmeen, which he produced.

@malayalamfilms #Malayalamcinema

16. When liquor baron Manarcad Pappan built a theatre complex in #Pala, his rival Issac Pathrose wanted to outdo him. What did he do? He constructed Sarita-Savita-Sangeetha, one of the earliest multiplexes in Kerala, in #Kochi at a cost of Rs. 2 crores in 1981!

#malayalamfilms

17. Now, how else is Manarcad Pappan connected to the world of #Malayalam films? He is the inspiration for the iconic character Aanakkattil Eappachan from the blockbuster film ‘ #Lelam’, portrayed by MG Soman.

#Malayalamcinema

18. Sri Sudhindra Thirtha Swami was the legal and spiritual head of the Kashi Math and a revered figure for the Goud Saraswat Brahmins of Canara and Konkan regions. It was no surprise, therefore, that he was requested to inaugurate #Shenoy’s Theatre in #Ernakulam in 1969.

#Kochi

19. #Sridhar, the first air-conditioned theatre in Ernakulam, was built in 1964 in memory of Sridhar Shenoy, a member of the Shenoy family (referenced in the previous tweet). It was inaugurated by VV Giri, the then Governor of Kerala who went on to become President of India.

20. There was a time when the #Shenoy family was the sole representative for #Columbia Pictures in the state and therefore Sridhar exclusively screened only English movies.

#Malayalamcinema #Kochi #movies

21. The locality of Star Moola in Kochi’s Mattanchery takes its name from Star Talkies, the first theatre in the city.

#Kochi #Ernakulam #Malayalamcinema

22. Kerala’s first drive-in theatre came up for a day on #ValentinesDay in 2020 at the Sacred Heart College ground in Kochi. The theatre screened #DDLJ and #Titanic, keeping the occasion in mind.

#Kochi #Malayalamcinema

23. The Temple Entry Proclamation was issued by the Maharaja of Travancore on 12 Nov 1936 and abolished the ban on selected sections from entering Hindu temples in Travancore. This was triggered by the All Kerala Temple Entry Conference held on 9 May 1936 in Trivandrum.

24. People had come from all over the state for this conference and, for their convenience, the meeting was held at a landmark near their disembarkation point, #Trivandrum Central Railway Station.

And where was this? New Theatre, right next to the station!

25. When former hotelier Sreedharan Pillai built Kerala’s first four-in-one theatre complex (Athira, Aswathy, Anjali, Athulya) in #Trivandrum, he realized he could christen it after his favourite goddesses Saraswati and Lakshmi, thus giving the name SL Cinemas!

#malayalamcinema

26. The Maliyekkal family of #Kottayam owns the Asha, Abhilash, Anand and Anaswara theatres in the city. Their most well-known member is Raju Mathew, who came up with the idea to give handkerchiefs to the viewers to promote the 1993 tearjerker #Akashadoothu!

#malayalamcinema

27. When Mughal theatre in #Kodungalloor (famous for being home to the oldest mosque in India) opened in 1981, it was inaugurated by former CM Achutha Menon and had its logo in the style of Arabic calligraphy (to stay true to its name).

28. Pictured here is the Upasana theatre in #Ranni in #Pathanamthitta district. It was completely submerged by the floodwaters of the #Pamba River in 2018, but bounced back the same year by screening #Mohanlal’s 'Odiyan'.

#malayalamcinema

29. The #Kerala State Film Development Corporation owns multiple theatres across the state. They all have appropriate names connecting them to Kerala – Kairali, Sree and Nila (which is an alternate name of the #Bharatapuzha River).

#malayalamcinema

30. Liberty Basheer, famous Malayalam film producer and multiple-time president of Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, ended up naming his theatre complex in Thalassery after his production company – Liberty.

#malayalamcinema

31. PVS Film City at Kozhikode’s RP Mall has theatres named Emerald, Topaz, Sapphire, Ruby and Coral. Very interestingly, one of the city’s iconic theatres (with a gem-related name), Blue Diamond, once stood not too far from PVS Film City’s location.

#malayalamcinema