Shanti Theatre

Shanti is an Indian multiplex and former theatre located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is owned by the family of actor Sivaji Ganesan.

History

Shanti was inaugurated on 12 January 1961 by then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, K. Kamaraj. It was the first deluxe air-conditioned theatre of Madras (now Chennai) with a capacity to seat 1212 people. The inaugural show was Srinivasa Kalyanam, and the first film to be released there officially was Thooya Ullam, followed by the Hindi film, Kalpana. The Tamil film Paava Mannippu was released in the theatre on 16 March 1961. Around the same time, the original promoters, facing a repayment cash crunch, approached Paava Mannippu star Sivaji Ganesan, who not only agreed to invest, but also bought out the promoters. Since then, Ganesan's family has owned the theatre. The theatre is widely believed to have been named after Ganesan's daughter Shanthi. According to Ganesan’s nephew Giri Shanmugam, “Shanti Theatre became a landmark in the city because it was owned by the great Sivaji Ganesan. Watching a Sivaji movie in Shanti was on the must-to-do list, besides seeing Marina Beach and LIC — the only 14-storyed building in the city then, for most visitors from other parts of Tamil Nadu.”

After Paava Mannippu, Shanti went on to screen 81 more films starring Ganesan. Some of the actor's hits like Paava Mannippu, Thiruvilaiyadal, Vasantha Maligai, Thangapadhakkam, Thirisoolam and Mudhal Mariyathai became silver jubilee films, while several others were 100-day successes.

During the 100th day celebrations of Karnan (1964), the theatre wore a festive look, with a real chariot readied and kept up front. N. T. Rama Rao, who portrayed Krishna in that film, was present along with various stars from the film.

Back then this much sought-after theatre was known to screen Hindi and English films. In 1964, Raj Kapoor’s Sangam ran for 188 days in the theatre. Shanmugam recalls this great meeting of minds. “In fact, when Sangam was running to packed houses, Sivaji Ganesan faced a piquant situation. His own production, Pudhia Paravai, which later turned out to be a super duper hit, was gearing up for release and the actor was keen on releasing it in Shanti. When Raj Kapoor came to know of this, he personally spoke to Sivaji Sir and requested him to let Sangam continue with a longer run in Shanti, since no other theatre in the city had such facilities. Sivaji agreed and released his own film at the nearby Paragon theatre, after spending money on its renovation.”

Future

In mid-2016, it was announced that Shanti would no longer be a theatre, and would be re-invented as a multiplex, while still retaining the name Shanti. The last film to be screened was 24.