The Safire Theatre complex was

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's first largest multi-theatre complex located in the southern city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

that functioned from 1964 to 1994. The theatre complex was located on Mount Road (now

Anna Salai Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and end ...

) and consisted of three screening halls, namely, ''Safire'', ''Blue Diamond'', and ''Emerald''. While the largest named ''Safire'' screened

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

movies, the other two, ''Emerald'' and ''Diamond'' screened Indian films. Safire was considered to be the first 70 mm theatre in India.

History

Started by the Veecumsee family, Safire opened its door to the public in 1964. The first movie to play in Safire was ''Cleopatra''. Safire was perhaps the first 70 mm theatre in India. It was spacious, if a bit spartan in furniture, and for the first few years screened only English language films. ''My Fair Lady'', ''Sound of Music'', ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Funny Girl'', and ''

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer with a story and screenplay by William Rose and Tania Rose. The film, starring Spencer Tracy with an all-star cast of comedians, is a ...

'' were some of the early movies. The Safire complex was India's first multiplex with three halls namely: Safire, Emerald and Blue Diamond. Both Blue Diamond and Emerald were small theatres with about 300 seats at the most. Blue Diamond had continuous screenings from morning until midnight. It almost exclusively screened English films. Emerald screened primarily Hindi and Tamil films. The complex was acquired in 1994 by the local

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mini ...

(AIADMK) political organization. which wanted to construct its new headquarters. The entire Safire complex was demolished, but AIADMK did not end up building its headquarters there and eventually put the nearly one acre land area up for sale in 2012.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Safire Theatre Complex Cinemas in Chennai Buildings and structures in Chennai