When National Theatre brought cinema to the western suburbs of the city

National Theatre stood on Arcot Road in Virugambakkam at a time when the western parts of Madras — particularly the Kodambakkam-Vadapalani-Saligramam belt — were emerging as the heart of the city’s film industry. The neighbourhood was dotted with major studios such as AVM, Vijaya-Vauhini and Prasad, and had become closely associated with the growth of Tamil cinema.

Against this backdrop, National Theatre offered a more modern cinema-going experience. By the 1960s, it was equipped with a Bauer B.14 Klang film sound system and a Perlex panoramic screen.

Virugambakkam itself was a very different place then, says G. Ramakrishnan, a long-time resident. Before becoming part of the Madras Corporation in the late 1970s, Virugambakkam retained much of its rural character with agricultural fields and mango groves. Small lakes and ponds sustained stretches of farmland, homes were few and far between, and basic civic infrastructure was limited, he says.