Curtains down on South India’s first cinema Delite Theatre in Coimbatore; demolition begins

Finally, the curtains are down on South India’s first Cinema Delite Theatre on Variety Hall Road in Coimbatore City and works for demolishing the same has begun.

Finally, the curtains are down on South India’s first Cinema Delite Theatre on Variety Hall Road in Coimbatore City and works for demolishing the same has begun.

At a time when single screen cinemas were lacking technological advantage not able to compete with multiplex, Delite theatre joins the list, where a commercial complex is about to come up. Film enthusiasts and theatre workers want at least one single screen cinema come up in the complex.

The ‘Variety Hall’ cinema in Coimbatore was established in 1914 by Samikannu Vincent and his brothers. Samikannu Vincent’s brothers had success stories in the ‘touring talkies’ (tent kottai) business, travelling across Coimbatore, Erode, the Nilgiris and Tiruppur.

”Once a busy lane in the heart of Coimbatore, now known for bicycles and its parts, Variety Hall Road got its name from the Variety Hall Talkies, now known as Delite Theatre, pointed out Kongu region historian C. R. Elangovan.

Vincent was a visionary in setting up the theatre in a place known for its commercial significance as the street was then the busiest place in Coimbatore. Variety Hall was the first theatre to give out printed movie tickets using a pedal printing machine in the 1930s.

The practice of referring to ‘night shows’ as ‘second show’ started at Variety Hall. Back then, the only show of the day was from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. After that, the theatre served as a place where drama artists staged their plays. Slowly, the response to drama started fading, and the slots after 9 p.m were left vacant. That was the time when Vincent started screening one more show from 10 p.m., which came to be called the ‘second show’.

After an overwhelming response, the theatre arranged for four shows in a day, starting from the morning. Variety Hall also screened a fifth ‘midnight show’ during the occasions of Maha Shivaratri and Vaikunda Ekadasi, when people stay awake all night.