There is simply too much nostalgia to recount as the era of pilot theatre comes to an end😢. The theatre which was closed a few years back for renovation is now permanently demolished. Interestingly it has a relation to the popular yesteryear brand of pilot ink pens. The Pilot Pen Co ✒️ (India) Pvt Limited, founded by Paranjothi Arockiasami Sanjivi, a local entrepreneur, was established in 1952. Legend has it that the first factory for the Pilot Pens, when it was more an assembly operation, stood at the site of the Pilot Theatre in Royapettah.
The company decided to get into cinema screening 🎟️ and put up the Pilot Theatre. Completed in 1968, it was India’s second screening facility with Cinerama technology, the first being Bangalore’s Kapali. This was a short-lived innovation, wherein three projectors simultaneously ran three strips of the film 🎞️, all of which synchronised on a giant arced screen thereby making for an awesome visual effect.
The first screening was on November 15, 1968, the film being The Ballad of Cable Hogue👫. After being a facility where only the best of English films were shown, it slowly settled down to vernacular films and later re-runs. Its vast compound was however a great attraction for film shoots. It was also a popular venue for film festivals.
Tangled in inheritance issues the theatre was closed down in 2014 and the theatre is no more today. A little trinket of history is completely wiped off 🍃 the map. The only reminder happens to be the lane adjacent to the theatre which is also named after it.
Source: Sriram.V