Modern Theatres, Ltd.

Credits

Descriptions by
naxo-ole

Captures by
naxo-ole, Henrynguye5, and MizukiAccent48

Editions by
Henrynguye5

Video captures courtesy of
PFS2021Channel

Background

Modern Theatres was an Indian film company based in Salem (Tamil Nadu) and founded in 1935 by TR Sundaram. From that year until 1982 (the year of the close of the company), it produced over 150 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Sinhalese and some movies in English. The main contributions of the company to Indian cinema are, among others: the first talkie Malayalam film (Balan, 1938); the first English film in Tamil Nadu (The Jungle, 1952); the first Tamil film in color (Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum, 1956); and the first Malayalam film in color (Kandam Vecha Coat, 1961). The first film produced by the company was Modern Girl (1935), and the last was Vetri Namathe-(1982).

1st (Known) Logo (October 24, 1940)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown

Availability: Seen only on Uthama Puthiran.

2nd Logo (November 7, 1942)

Visuals: On a dark background, there's a circle translation to show us a big circle over a mountain with some rays, supposed to be the sun. Inside it, there is a drawing of "MTL", which looks like a 3D drawing. After is on the upper part of the logo:

THE MODERN THEATRES, LTD.
SALEM.

And we see at the right side of the sun "PRESENT".

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: Seen only on Manonmani.

3rd Logo (October 28, 1943-December 8, 1947)

Visuals: On a blue and cloudy sky background, there is a 3D "MTL", and "TD" is above the L. Below the great 3D initials, we read:

THE MODERN THEATRES LTD.
PRESENT

Meanwhile, the clouds are moving from the right to the left and there are search lights pointing at the logo.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: Seen only on Diwan Bahadur,-Burma Rani-and-1000 Thalai Vaangiya Apoorva Chinthamani.

4th Logo (July 10, 1953-December 6, 1982)

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Visuals: On a grey and black background is a big structure, which suddenly makes a turn of almost 90 degrees. The big structure is in fact a 3D text similar to the previous logo. But below the big logo we see, between two lines, "MODERN THEATRES LTD".

Variants:

• Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum and Kandam Vecha Coat: the background is white and red, while the logo is red and yellow/white.
• Vetri Namathe: The background is a blue sky with some clouds, and the 3D letters are red and gold, and "MODERN THEATRES LTD" is gold.
• Kali Koyil Kabali: The logo is a little darker than Vetri Namathe variant.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A fanfare made by trumpets.

Audio Variant: Kattu Roja uses a different fanfare.

Availability: Seen on some films from the period. You can find some of them on YouTube, like Aravalli, Vannakili, Vallavanukku Vallavan, Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum, Kandam Vecha Coat, Kali Koyil Kabali or Vetri Namathe, among others.