A prime shooting spot for Tamil films, an entertainment hub and a food lover’s haven. Savera Hotel has been many things in one. CE traces its journey through memories of people associated with it.
CHENNAI: Chennai has always had several places of importance and historical relevance even 40-50 years ago. Yet the main attraction during the 70s was you could see the entire city from a rooftop restaurant. “People used to visit Minar, a rooftop restaurant in Hotel Savera only to take a look at the city from there. It could give a view which you couldn’t see from anywhere as there were very few high-rise buildings then,” says historian V Sriram. Over time, the names and the look of the restaurant changed in Savera, but the brand still stands tall. Touted to be the first four-star hotel in the city, Savera Hotel is in its 50th year and will celebrate it golden jubilee early 2018.
“Three brothers: Shyamsundar, Venkatakrishna and Ramaraghava, whose were mica miners in Gudur, Nellore district, started this hotel. It was my father-in-law, Shyamsundar Reddy’s vision to start a star hotel in Chennai. They put together first two alphabets of their names and hence the name ‘Savera’ was born,” says Nina Reddy, joint MD of the hotel.
Savera started with just 16 rooms and now has more than 200. “I was going though some pictures recently and I realised that he already had a vision of how it was going to look like. I think he was a pioneer in this. He knew nothing about catering or hospitality industry, but was driven purely by passion and instinct,” she adds. The hotel claims to have started the first live entertainment section in the city. “We had a hotel called Golden Bowl where there were cabaret performances. Singer Usha Uthup started her career here and she used to be a part of an English band,” says Nina.
Film historian Mohan V Raman reminisces that many dance and fight sequences were shot here. “The restaurant was circular and had a dome like structure. Many films in the 70s and 80s, especially those with Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth, were shot here mainly because of its ambience. It was a prime spot where a villain would be beat up or a song shot. This was also the first restaurant to have a disco ball,” he recalls. Apart from the restaurant, the lobby and swimming pool were some of the most common locations for shooting.
Marupadiyum starring Revathi and Arvind Swami was also shot in the hotel.
Those days, Chennai was a melting pot of shooting and many film personalities from the Telugu and Hindi film industries stayed here. “Many Telugu heroes like NT Rama Rao, Nageshwar Rao, Sowcar Janaki, Vanisree and even Bollywood heroes like Rajesh Khanna have stayed here,” claims Nina. Despite these star attractions, it was mainly a food-driven hotel.
“We introduced Minar, the rooftop restaurant serving Awadhi and Mughlai cuisines in 1979. There was a pure vegetarian restaurant, Chariot. Golden Bowl served continental and Bamboo bar was a meeting point of sorts,” adds Nina.
Many long time customers like Sivaraman Ramamurthy and AR Krishnan remember Savera for their hospitality, ambience and food. “I have been a customer since 1989 and I have had many family functions and also meetings there. I remember that buffet at Chariot used to cost `125 and had quite a wide spread,” says Sivaraman. Concurs Krishnan, who adds, “It was a very well known vegetarian restaurant after Woodlands.
We could boast of having a sumptuous vegetarian meal in a star restaurant.” Sriram shares that the property belonged to C Rajam, who owned the Gemini house. “This property was part of the same compound. As Madras Institute of Technology was being built then, he sold this property,” he shares adding that his early memories include breakfast on Sundays at Chariot which was quite popular.
While Savera kept introducing something new to the city, it found a supportive crowd. “I have been in Chennai for 37 years and have always felt that though the city is traditional, they are progressive and open to change. All they look for is value for money,” says Nina.
Like any other business, Savera has also seen its shares of ups and downs but the difficult times only had a few lessons. “These are exciting times now. We have left some challenges behind but learnt from them and we will continue to update ourselves. We have been able to blend a few things without making anything looking drastically different,” she adds.
Cuisines
In the 70s and 80s, the management went across the length and breadth of the country to bring in chefs from different cities. They had a chef from Goa for continental cuisine alone and it is something they are known for even now. Some of their signature dishes include chicken nallaki, baked Alaska, Nargisi biryani, machili koliwada and beef stroganoff.
The golden jubilee celebrations will be held in February 2018.