Circarama Film Show - Reminiscence of '60s in Madras

Circarama Film Show - Reminiscence of ‘60s in Madras

 I happened to come across  THE HINDU news paper of September 22^nd,2011 and saw a news  in the page “This Day That Age “ , that is 50 years before news column , about a great film show  enjoyed by me , my brother Gopi ,my sister Vasanthi and a cousin Jamuna in Congress Grounds, Teynampet in the year 1961. It was called CIRCARAMA , a dome like theater with 11 screens around the interior of the doom covering 360 degree with 11 projectors running the film and you can  watch by standing in the center, a train moving from the screen opposite to us  cross over our head to the back side screen. Other way also  we have seen a motor car speeding in a road from one screen to the 11^th screen passing through all the screens continuously. I was 9 years old and the show was something new and wonderful to admire. I remember of my repeated trips to that show with my uncle ( Raghu Periappa ). The entry fare may be 4 annas , if I am correct but not sure.

The present generation would not have heard the word – Circarama. The wiz kids of today are familar with 360 degree panorama view of any place in the world  with the use of internet.

For the old timer’s sake I reproduce the news as well as few photos , to  recall their visit to Circarama in Madras or in other cities , Bombay, Bangalore, New Delhi and Calcutta.

 

                                 

The Hindu September 22,2011

This Day That age ( 50 years before )

September 22 , 1961

Circarama film show

Circarama, a unique entertainment experience, was shown in Calcutta to Pressmen on September 21 under the auspices of the USIS. The Circarama actually is 11 movie cameras mounted together and operating as a single unit but with their lenses pointed outward from a central point. Thus the cameras ‘see' in all directions. The film is projected on 11 screens by 11 projectors electrically linked and synchronised. The screens each 10 feet by 13 feet, are mounted inside the upper part of a large cylinder 48 feet in diameter which is the Circarama theatre. The audience stands in the centre of the cylinder surrounded by the screen. And as they watch the motion picture on all sides, viewers have the illusion that they are in the very centre of the film's activity. Through the ‘magic' of the Circarama, the audience is taken on a tour of the U.S. from the east to the west coast of the country. After being exhibited in Calcutta for a few weeks, it will be shown in Bombay, Madras, Bangalore and New Delhi.