Madras may now be Chennai, but for those of us who were part of the change, Madras it shall always be! Turns out today is considered Madras Day, the day this lovely, ever growing city was founded. We are not going to give you a history lesson but we are going to pick out our favorite shooting spots in the city.

No romance set in namma Chennai is possible without the beach. And back in the eighties the vandalised loner acrh at Besant Nagar beach was pretty much our local Taj Mahal. The symbol of love! Today however, private beaches are choicer locations. Your grandmom will tell you how the Sathyam Cinemas of her time used to be and the number of telugu movies she watched there. Well, have her know that there are twice as many screens there now. And while you're on it how about taking her to the Vivegam FDFS? Oh, but the tickets are all sold out!

AVM Studios continues to be THE choicest place to erect sets for both movies and television shows. The premises has developed and is so flexible that it allows just about any set to grow out of its grounds! And we must mention that shimmering AVM globe, that still shines in the scorching heat.

Woodlands drive-in restaurant was also a unique spot in the city that often found its way into movies a few decades ago. We are told that it also happened to be one of Super Star Rajinikanth's favourite spots in Madras. However, the drive-in is no longer in exsitence. It has been transformed into a park, that is turning out to be an equally popular spot for song shoots, if you don't have the budget to fly to Switzerland!

North Chennai is the rage right now! If you have a story about a bunch of useless guys, with hardly an education but innate thug qualities, then North Chennai is the place to head to. Find dark alleys and set to work!

These are but a few of many interesting places in Chennai/Madras that keep finding their way into our movies. And if you watch carefully enough, you will see how Madras has evolved into the Chennai we know.