It’s no big secret that I love Satyam Cinemas. One good reason is it’s just 10-15 minutes walk and a 5 minutes drive from my place! I had already written about this here: Satyam Cinemas rocks! but I thought I would go on and write something that has come up fresh at Satyam Cinemas.
The people over at Satyam have done a magnificent job to transform the whole place. The road where the theater is situated used to be “dull” street - that is without much traffic, but now it’s bustling with activities. It has now become the hangout zone of Chennai. Here’s a picture as how Satyam used to look some 6-7 years ago: (Click on the thumbnail to view a larger photo)
Why do we all like Satyam Cinemas?
I like satyam for their pakka maintainence and providing a great environment to watch the movie! A cool theatre with lots of peppy guys and girls….all the time bright and colorful.
The sound effects and cleaniness…….And also “No Smoking Area” zones throughout the cineplex. 
Sathyam’s awesome, economical (unlike the other multiplexes in Mumbai n Delhi). Ticket prices start from Rs. 50 (used to be 40 only some months ago) to Rs. 110. And not to forget those 10 bucks tickets where you get “up close with the stars”!
Let’s see what Kirran Reddy and his team been upto for the past few months or so to make Satyam Cinemas very cool n happening place in Chennai…
thecinema.in
The official website of the Satyam Cinemas,Chennai is thecinema.in
How to book tickets: All you have to do is log on and select the movie,show timings, number of seats, (seat selection is also available), and snacks. Enter your Credit Card number and note down the order number. 
At the date you’re catching up with the movie, go to the counter and give your Credit Card and the order number … thats it.. u get the tickets immediately after they swipe ur card…no rush, no standing in queues, no headaches…
The only problem is that it uses a flash interface and takes some time to load (even with my 256k line). Maybe they should try to have a AJAX site. The website also offers booking of snacks and drinks as well during the show. The ticket status is refreshed frequently. So we can use the site for acquiring information on ticket rates, availability of the seats, which movie in which screen, etc.. thecinema.in - The Queue is dead!
Six Degrees
Six Degrees is the 6th Screen and the latest addition at Satyam Cinemas. The tickets cost Rs 110 (They charged Rs. 130 for Rang De Basanti) - a never heard before ticket rates in Chennai.
6 Degrees is small with only 9 rows. The seat’s upholstery is good. A comparatively big screen for a comparatively small theater. I also heard that it got LCD displays (but not sure of this).
The seating arrangement is simply amazing, ample space for both the body and legs. The arm rest thing!! … at any time a person can have both their arms on the arm rest rather than waiting for opportunity rather than thinking “Dude when do I get my turn at the arm rest“!! And even if a Basket ball player sits in the front row, you can still have a unobstructed view to the screen.
Seats are very comfortable and even the hand rests are also cushioned.Taking all this in account to “luxuries”, Rs. 110 is a bargain… compare this to other metros where you are charged 200+ and even rs. 350 for those “airplane” seats.
Blind Date
The first Cinemas in Chennai to bring the innovative idea of making us using our sixth sense for guessing the movie. All they say is the rating for the movie. The show is on Studio 5 every Thursday, 7′o Clock show. It’s good to catch up with Premiers even before they make it the FDFS. It would be thrilling to sit in the hall and guessing for the movie.. it itself would be a thriller!
Pure Cinema
Again a very nice concept and an innovative idea. As the title says, movies which has more creative side, good wholesome movie are screened which otherwise might not run at par with “masala” movies.
At first, they started showing Pure Cinema movies every Friday (or everyday? I’m not sure, I forgot) 10 PM show, but now they show more than a movie also at some random timings.
Four Frames
It’s a great forum for avid cinema lovers to interact with technicians & get to know the nuances of film making. Recently it has Om Puri in the show. They showed his Movie - The Hangman which he directed and then tête - à - tête with him.
110 Years of World Cinema
This is a new concept where we get to see some really old but true classics that you might never ever see in DVDs or TV channels. At the time I’m writing this post, they are showing Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes and Akira Kurosawa’s Rashômon with expert commentary by K. Hariharan and Sunny Joseph followed by audience discussion. It’ll be good thing where we can discuss about the movies just as we do in discussion boards.
The 10 bucks Ticket!
10 bucks for a movie in a theater that has good ambiance, clean, and provide good environment in a Metro Cinema. 10 Rs. ticket so that I can watch almost every movie without evaporating my moolah.
The seats are in front (first 3 rows) and has no cushion. You need to stand in that friggin queue for some time (Many have stood in line at 12, wanting to go for 1′o clock show, ended up goin at 4, for some other random film) but for ten rupees, its worth!!!
We can spend on steam corn, butter popcorn and others. When we’re going with our friends we need not impress them..its a date which will be different!! Save the money for girlfriends/boyfriends. 10 bucks tickets - the true budget Cinema experience!
R|D|X Experience
Sathyam. Ground Floor. Middle of the theatre. Middle of the row. R|D|X. That’s some movie experience. Experienced this three times. I saw Harry Potter 4 ,Superman Returns and Pirates of Caribbean 2 in the middle of the theater and boy what a feeling! I really can’t express all those in words. You got to check them for yourself. We have Satyam and Sree which got this R|D|X thing.
Interval Stuffs and Snacks
Butter Pop corn, Iced Tea ,Cold Coffee, hot and juicy corns (I first saw this and eat at Brigade Street in Bangalore for 25 bucks). So much for your stomach to digest in the break time! The only problem is that it’s costly compared what it’s priced outside in the city (still cheaper than what we see in Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore).
Magic Hat
I don’t know much about Magic Hat, all I know is it’s a place where we get to leave the kids n toddlers to play n fool around while we are at peace enjoying the movie. Magic Hat - Transit play lounge for kids.
What more is planned?
A total entertainment arena for audiences, where they don’t just go to the movie hall, buy tickets, watch the movie,catch up with some bird watching(!) and go back.
Moviegoers can now look forward to combining dinner with a late-night show or a game of bowling before an evening show, all inside the same movie complex.
In addition, there are rumors about the possible 7th screen (at the place where there used to be a big waiting hall in front of Satyam cinemas), or maybe that could be the much talked INOX screen.
In addition, they’ve planned 20 more screens in Chennai including 2 new cineplex in Vadapalani and Amjikarai. Things never looked so rosy and fabulous of Chennai moviegoers and filmlovers.
Some closing comments…
Sathyam has the best R|D|X sound effects, Santham’s Balcony seats are the best, Subham has a nicely lit area in a corner with that haunted feeling. Sree’s Rendezvous seats are special. Studio 5 which is nice n compact with chandeliers, Six Degrees with those LCD displays, seats and arm rest!
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7 comments ↓
[...] More on Satyam Cinemas here: New and Notable at Satyam Cinemas. It got more information on various things like how to book tickets using Credit Cards, about Blind Date, 4 frames and a small review of the new theater Six Degrees. [...]
Wow Ashwin! This looks to be a great model for any multiplex! The big buck uneconomical multiplexes in big cities suck at times… U end up spending all ur pocket money
Netime I make it to Chennai… i will sure consider catching up a movie at the Satyam Cinemas… Esp a blind date one!
Yeah.. you won’t believe this but do you know that juntas comes from Bangalore and Vellore to catch up movies here.. yup, even Bangalore which boasts theaters like PVR etc..
Can I call it “Fan marketing”,just joking.
here in baroda, the rates range from Rs.40 to 120 Rs. some so called biggies cost more like 130 to 150 Rs.
Plus, to add that ,here the state gov. done foolish policy to give 5 year no-tax period (which led closing of many cinemas & rise of multiplexes).Due to this, the single screen theatre owner end up paying 50 % income on each ticket(that sucks).
when big release comes they arrange almost 13 shows/day to pull every bit of cost & increase profits.
R-D-X experience, is it something with sound system ? my guess besides DTS, Dolby 3 way & Sony SRS ,there could be another ,
& 7th screen “INOX” screen, wht that mean ?
Hmm… it’ll be good if this is fan marketing, but it’s not.
Yeah, RDX is sound system. Equivalent to 20k-35k Altec Lansing/Bose audio-speaker systems.
I’m really confused about this whole INOX in Satyam rumors. But there is definitely space & place for a seventh screen there, but some say INOX might come up with a screen.
Not Inox dude its IMAX. And Sathyam seating infrastructure is starting to show its age with many torn bits in many of the screens nowhere near a PVR.For all their inovations they just cant be a five star multiplex like PVR.I would give it at best four stars which does not make it the best in India yet.
IMAX? Hmm… they have already planned 4-6 screens at Chennai Citi Center.
John, but how much PVR charges for tickets? Can you see a movie with 50 bucks?
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