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 Royapettah area, known for housing the "police case" hospital, also shone as a centre for personalities of the film and theatre world. Stalwarts of the industry like N.S.Krishnan, T.K.Shanmugam, S.V.Sahasranamam, Sivaji Ganesan, Rukmini and Bheemsingh resided in houses on the streets of Royapettah. Illustrations are Thandavarayan Street and Besant Road. Strangely, the length of Besant Road is just about 100 meters. A statue of Annie Besant can be found at the end of nearby Peters Road, very close to the beach. Probably that is the reason why this road is christened Besant Road.
This place which was once thronged by film and stage artistes, does not possess any trace of such activity today. In the good old days when the artistes rehearsed during the evenings the church bells of the nearby Pentecostal Church would start ringing. This would indeed make passersby wonder whether there was a competition going on!
 These streets were collectively called "Kolaikaaranpettai". ("Kolaikaaran" in Tamil means murderer. So, the area occupied by murderers!). The very name of the area would make people shiver with fear. But to my knowledge no murder seems to have taken place in this locality.
Finally I would like to furnish some information. When the cinema world underwent a major change, in the period from 1950-1960, by way of broad screens, a new theatre with a very broad screen was inaugurated in the Royapettah area. That is the Pilot theatre. People might not believe me today if I say that Pilot Theatre was a theatre with the most modern amenities available then. Royapettah has undergone a number of changes and the present state of Pilot Theatre is one among them.
Let us scan Chennai again…
Ashokamitran
(Translated by Sujatha Pradeep)
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Pilot Theatre - Royapettah’s Pride?
