The Chennaites crib of not being able to watch the Best of Hollywood from being in Chennai. Cinema Paradiso and Tik Tak are two good stores that I know which rent DVDs. Sadly they both are located at Abiramapuram. I am not sure it there is a better shop somewhere at Adyar or Egmore.
They may not supply all of the best but its a good start. When they opened up they charged more than 100 bucks as a single DVD’s rent. Seems like they have reduced the rental since then and they have also expanded to Hyderabad and Bangalore. I am not sure of what prompted them to expand in Calcutta instead of Mumbai where they might get some good market.
Santhosh, the guy who, alongwith Vaan Nila Tharum fame Richard started Cinema Paradiso talks to The Telegraph on their recent expansion to Calcutta and also drops few names here and there. From the interview –
“Kamal Haasan, (A.R.) Rahman and I used to exchange DVDs, before I started off my parlour with just 300 titles from a tiny place in Chennai’s Alwarpet in 2003 along with my partner Richard,” recalls the 32-year-old software engineer from Trichy.
Collecting DVDs went hand-in-hand with his camera cameos, first during a stint with Mani Ratnam’s cinematographer P.C. Shriram, and then with Hungarian lens ace Vilmos Zsigmond, who had worked with Spielberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “I collaborated with Zsigmond in Rush Hour in Hollywood and then also worked in Playing by Heart, starring Sean Connery and directed by Willard Carrol,” says Santhosh, who is set to return with his camera to the Ratnam stable soon. Cinema Paradiso has remained a parallel passion, though.
With DVDs rental lowering down to Rs.50, I am happy chennaites would crib too much and Nilu doesn’t have to travel so far to watch Mulholland Dr.
kirukkal.com 
3 responses to “Cinema Paradiso expands”
RIC Videos in Nungambakkam High Road is also a good place for DVDs…..although the rent’s a bit costly…..
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🙂
When they say, they don’t carry Dr. Mullholand, it prompts me to say, “Can someone loan me few lakhs to set up a *truly* up-to-date DVD rental store in Madras?”
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Movie Land in T Nagar (opp. PSBB) is a good, up and coming place. Hidden Fortress to Samsara to Dr.Strangelove.
Only if you spend time reading the blurb in Quills or Malena, you will hear a hushed voice whisper “pudusa neraya Vandhurukku saar” and tap a DVD spine that reads “Eros” or “Visual guide to the Kamasutra”.
Reminds me of the RD joke about the successful businessman who said: ” I found something I could make for $1 and sell for $3. I have no idea how the 2 % adds ?”
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