Address | West Fort Road, East Fort, Chalai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
---|---|
Construction | |
Opened | 1936 |
Reopened | 1972 (present structure) |
Years active | 1936–present |
Sri Padmanabha Theatre is a cinema theatre in the South Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Located in Chalai, it was opened in 1936 and is one of the oldest theatres in Kerala. Sri Padmanabha is known among the filmfest delegates as one of the venue for the International Film Festival of Kerala. It is considered as part of cinema culture of Thiruvananthapuram. [1]
Sri Padmanabha Theatre was started in 1936 by renowned Malayalam film producer and director and founder of Merryland Studio, P. Subramaniam. It was the second theatre to come in Thiruvananthapuram after the New Theatre. During that time a big tent was built and a single projector was used to run the film with three intervals. There were three types of ticket classes that day. At the front is the floor ticket, where people sat on that sand. After that is the bench and after that is the chair. When 700 to 800 people gather, the tent is pulled to make it bigger. Thus the cinema exhibition at Sri Padmanabha at that time was able to run a movie even by accommodating 1,000 to 1,500 people. [2]
The theatre did not change much during the old tent era. In 1972, P. Subramaniam's son S. Chandran took over and modernised it. It was opened on 11 February 1972 with new facilities including air-conditioning. The Tamil film Agathiyar was the first show in the theatre after the transformation from the tent. S. Chandran's son Girish Chandran took charge of the theatre in 1997, and it underwent a major facelift. It included a new JBL sound system, including a dolby processor. Sri Padmanabha was one of the first theatres in Kerala to try the dolby DTH JBL combination. In 2011, Sri Padmanabha changed the seats completely and made a facelift again. After this, the trend of making two or three theaters came in Kerala as the large single-screen theaters could not afford the operating costs. As part of this, in 2013, a part of the lower class of Sri Padmanabha was replaced and a theater called Devipriya was established. In 2018, a major fire happened in the theater. After the incident, the same year it was completely renewed again by only retaining the theatre structure. [3]
Thiruvananthapuram, formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration population is around 1.68 million. Located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland, Thiruvananthapuram is a major information technology hub in Kerala and contributes 55% of the state's software exports as of 2016. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the "Evergreen city of India", the city is characterised by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills.
Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, Elippathayam won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and Most Original Imaginative Film of 1982 by the British Film Institute. Rajiv Anchal's Guru (1997), Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu (2011) and Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu (2019) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.
Suresh Gopi is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acting debut as a child in the 1965 film Odayil Ninnu. He made his debut as an adult in 1986 and since then, he has acted in more than 250 films. Suresh Gopi is a recipient of the National Film Award and the Kerala State Film Award in 1998 for his performance in Kaliyattam. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
Thiruvananthapuram District, is the southernmost district in the Indian state of Kerala. The district was created in 1949, with its headquarters in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, which is also Kerala's administrative centre. The present district was created in 1956 by separating the four southernmost Taluks of the erstwhile district to form Kanyakumari district. The city of Thiruvananthapuram is also known as the Information technology capital of the State, since it is home to the first and largest IT park in India, Technopark, established in 1990. The district is home to more than 9% of total population of the state.
The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. It is widely considered as the world's richest Hindu temple. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Malayalam and Tamil translates to "The City of Ananta". The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Kerala style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopura. While as per some traditions the Ananthapura temple in Kumbla in Kasaragod district in Kerala is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity ("Moolasthanam"), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.
P. Subramaniam was an Indian film producer, film director, distributor, theatre owner, and mayor. He is the founder of Merryland Studio, the second film studio in Kerala.
The Kizhakke Kotta, commonly known as East Fort, is a busy commercial street located at the heart of the central business district of Thiruvananthapuram city the capital of Kerala. East Fort is known as the heart of the city as it is located in the center. Since Trivandrum was known as Travancore, East Fort was a commercial suburb with the presence of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple since 1900. East Fort also stands up as the second largest shopping area after the posh shopping area of Pulimoodu.
Indian cinematographers work in a number of regional film centres: Chennai for Tamil films, Mumbai for films in Marathi and Hindi, Hyderabad for films in Telugu, Kochi for films in Malayalam, Kolkata for Bengali films, Bangalore for Kannada films, etc. Most Indian cinematographers are known for their work with one regional industry. Some cinematographers belong to various professional organisations and trade unions.
Thiruvananthapuram has long been a center of media. Kerala Chandrika, the first newspaper of the state, was published from Thiruvananthapuram in 1789. The media also enjoyed the patronage of the Travancore kings. In 1836, Swathi Thirunal, the Travancore king, organized a government press in the city. The first Superintendent of the Press was the Rev. Sperschneider. The press was under Samathanam Maistry, one of the first batch of workmen trained in the Nagercoil Press.
The International Film Festival of Kerala is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The festival is held in November or December every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in India.
The city of Thiruvananthapuram has been the centre of cultural activities of Kerala (India) from the time it was made capital of Travancore in 1745. The capital city is a major intellectual and artistic center. The Thiruvananthapuram Museum and Thiruvananthapuram Zoo were started during the reign of Swathi Thirunal (1813–1847) and are one of the oldest of their kind in India. The city's libraries include the Trivandrum Public library, which was started in 1829. The Swathi Thirunal College of Music and 'College of fine arts' are the leading institutions related to music and arts.
Dany is a 2001 Malayalam language Indian political comedy drama film written, directed and produced by T.V. Chandran with Mammootty in the title role. Also starring in the film are noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, Vani Viswanath, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Ratheesh, popular television actress Maya Moushmi, Raji menon and Narendra Prasad. It released coinciding with the festival of Christmas in December 2001. The film met with critical acclaim with most of the critics hailing the performance of Mammootty. It won numerous awards including a National Film Award and three Kerala State Film Awards.
Sathyan was an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema. Known for his own style and versatility in acting, Satyan was one of the pioneers of realistic acting in Indian film industry. He is respectfully called Sathyan Master. He was also a soldier in the British Indian Army and later a police officer with the Travancore State Police.
Sreekumaran Thampi is an Indian lyricist, music director, director, producer, and screenwriter in Malayalam cinema. He also writes poetry and is a recipient of the Vallathol Award. In 2017, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Marthanda Varma is a 1933 black and white Indian silent film directed by P. V. Rao, based on the 1891 Malayalam novel by C. V. Raman Pillai. This was the first film based on Malayalam literature and the next film of the Malayalam film industry after Vigathakumaran.
Kainikkara Padmanabha Pillai (1898–1976), popularly identified as Swathithirunal Kainikkara Padmanabha Pillai after his magnum opus, Swathithirunal, was an Indian author of Malayalam literature, actor, speaker, teacher and thinker. He was known for his plays which dealt with themes such as patriotism, sacrifice and justice and his characters showed heroism, showing influence of William Shakespeare. Kerala Sahitya Akademi awarded him their annual award for drama in 1970. He was also a recipient of the Kalyani Krishna Menon Puraskaram.
Priyanka Nair is an Indian model-turned-actress who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. She made her debut in the Tamil film Veyyil in 2006. She gained critical acclaim for her roles in Bhoomi Malayalam, Vilapangalkappuram and Jalam.
Merryland Studio is an Indian film studio based in Trivandrum, Kerala. It was the second film studio in Kerala, established in 1950 by former Trivandrum mayor and businessman P. Subramaniam. He produced 70 films, 59 of them directed by himself. He was active between 1951 – 1979. The studio's home productions were made under the company Neela Productions. Merryland Studio was famous for their professional rivalry with Kunchacko's Udaya Studio, the first film studio in Kerala. They resumed film production under the newly christened company Merryland Cinemas, debuting with Hridayam (2022).
Kerala State Film Development Corporation, is an organization founded by the Government of Kerala, India for promoting the film market in the state. It was founded in 1975, a period when the production of Malayalam films were centered in Madras. KSFDC was formed with an objective of moving the Malayalam film industry from Madras to Kerala. At the time of its inception, it was the first of its kind organization for film development under public sector in India.
Cinema of South India, refers to the cinema of the four major film industries in South India; primarily engaged in making feature films in the four major languages of the region, namely — Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. They are often colloquially referred to as Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood and Mollywood.