Elite, previously known as Madan Theatre and Palace of Varieties, was initially meant for ballroom dancing. Truckloads of ice would be brought inside and dumped in a room that was kept at a sub-zero temperature. This ice would then be used for the dance floor. The theatre had central air-conditioning to maintain the temperature. The name was then changed to Prabhat in 1938. On April 28, 1938, Prabhat opened with the Hindi film titled Jaigirdar. In 1948, it reopened as Elite with the screening of The Unconquered. It was during this time that the theatre's ownership shifted from the Madans to Empire Estate. During the era of silent cinema, a projector was imported from Italy. A gentleman would play the piano live on stage while the movie beamed on the screen! Initially, Elite used to screen only English movies. Gone With the Wind (1939), Ten Commandments (1956), The Guns of Navarone (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), Sound of Music (1965), Mackenna's Gold (1969), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and The Godfather (1972) had successfully run there. Later, Hindi films took over. When Mughal-e-Azam (1960) released, the film did such fabulous business that the employees were given a bonus. Dev Anand had come down for the premiere for Hare Ram Hare Krishna (1972). There are stories of Sanjeev Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan coming down for the release of Sholay (1975). Even Satyajit Ray had once gone there. Aparna Sen's 36 Chowringhee Lane had its premiere there in 1981. When the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Shahenshah (1988) had released, the movie-goers' queue had extended from Elite to Maidan. The collections were massive even when Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) was screened there. Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Anupam Kher had dropped by when Darr released in 1993. When Maine Pyar Kiya released, Bhagyashree had visited in 1989. SRK's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi had done very good business here. But patrons started dwindling with the advent of other forms of entertainment and the lack of interest in single screens. Heavy financial losses, debts incurred with depleting number of patrons and increasing attraction of multiplexes made the situation worse. In the last week of May 2018, it didn't have enough patrons for the theatre to run the night shows. The first week's collection for Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, which ran between May 25 and May 31, 2018, was approximately Rs 30,000. In the week between May 18 and May 24, 2018, Tarzan had an approximate collection of Rs 23,000. Challenge Hain Kya Dum had approximately collected Rs 18,000 between May 11 and May 17, 2018. That was hardly enough to sustain the theatre. Finally, Elite - which had used to once cater to Kolkata's elite - bit the dust without even getting a proper farewell. The night show of John Abraham's Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran had to be cancelled on May 31, 2018, since there were no patrons at the 1228-seater. The cinema shut down permanently on June 1, 2018. In June 2021, Elite Cinema was used exclusively by KMC for vaccinating hawkers of that area.