A ride down Anna Salai — Mount Road for the nostalgically inclined — offers memories and wistful sighs, especially when the mind leans towards old films. Chennai that was Madras in the 1980s and 90s had an array of theatres, most of them clustered around Mount Road. Every theatre had its distinct identity, be it the single screen or the ones with multiple screens like Devi or Sathyam Complex.
But when time’s winged chariot sped past the LIC building, a trope that old Tamil films used to establish the location as Madras, many theatres have vanished and have morphed into commercial complexes or residential high-rises. There is no Gaiety, Chitra, Alankar, Wellington, Shanthi, Melody, Anand, Little Anand, and above all, there is no Safire complex, that looming presence just before the Anna Flyover. When theatres disappear, you clutch at some whispers from the past. Like the memory of the lost first loves, the missing theatre leaves a dull ache.
