The Parsis who once ran theatres in Madras

An old poster for Casino Theatre, Madras | Photo Credit: Music Academy archives

Cinema theatres and Parsis – both are dwindling in numbers. This thought came to my mind while researching about the golden age of single-screen theatres in Chennai city, and I realised that many were run by Parsis. I have managed to count seven. I am sure readers will send in replies with more.

While the first Indian to own cinema theatres in Madras was undoubtedly Raghupathy Venkaiah with his Gaiety, Crown and Roxy, dating to 1914/1915, J.F. Madan, of the famed Madan Picture Palace chain was already here, renting the Lyric theatre at the intersection of Wallajah and Mount Roads and renaming it Elphinstone.

By 1915, he had moved across Round Tana and begun New Elphinstone where the Raheja Complex stands today. For a brief while, after Venkaiah was adjudged insolvent in the 1920s, his Gaiety too was run by a Mrs. Piroja Madan, who may have been related to the Madans of the Elphinstone chain. Gaiety, after changing hands several times, is now a commercial complex.

Only for European audience

In the meanwhile, another Parsi was making a name for himself in the field and it was Seth Rustomji Dorabji Wellington. Having made a success in Bombay of a distributorship in cycles under the name of Wellington, in collaboration with the West End Cycle Co. of London, he came to Madras in the early 1900s. In 1918, he sub-leased land at the Mount Road/General Patters Road corner from the D.D. Italia family and put up his Wellington Theatre. Further down General Patters Road came up his West End Theatre. Rustomji Dorabji screened only English films and only for a European clientele but his sons, on inheriting the theatres, Indianised them.

Thus, Burjorji Dorabji, who got Wellington, screened Hindi and Tamil films, with Gemini’s productions always premiering there. Framji Dorabji soon sold his West End to A.K. Ramachandran Iyer who constructed Midland on the same premises. Wellington bit the dust in the 1980s, becoming a commercial complex under the name of Wellington Plaza. Midland and Westland were bought by actress Jaya Prada and her brother Raja Babu and named after them. Today, they are mere ruins.

In 1941, the Iranian family constructed Casino Theatre, next to Gaiety. It is said that they were traditionally into ice making, but when the Wellington family ventured into it, they, in revenge, decided to get into the theatre business. The son of the family was an architect and he designed Casino, which very likely was the first Art Deco-styled theatre of the city. Casino had a long and glorious run before it too faded. It still is a theatre, which is something of a miracle, though its lovely facade is now boxed in, in the most unimaginative way.

Parsis seem to have lost interest in theatres for quite some time thereafter. But, in the 1960s came Eros in Adyar, catering to the newly developing locality. It was promoted by the Iranis (were they of the Casino family, I wonder?), with the Maneckjis and the Careys and it had a brief run for even then theatres were on the wane. Other partners came in and they converted it into a wedding hall. The place is now an automobile showroom.

Of course, the first Parsis in the entertainment business in Madras were of the itinerant drama company variety. Among those, the Batliwala Drama Company was the most famous and hired the tent in the Esplanade Maidan where the Madras High Court now stands. That was in the mid 19^th century. Indeed, Madan himself is believed to have worked in a drama company before he took to cinema exhibitions.

Published - June 18, 2025 07:00 am IST