One of the prime movers behind establishing this theatre was Ramchandra Chowdhury. He was a police commissioner who later studied law and used to practice at the High Court. A theatre enthusiast, Ramchandra was also an ardent admirer of Sisir Bhaduri. Inspired by Bhaduri, he established this theatre along with the then-head of UBI Bank SN Sinha. Dr Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay had inaugurated it on December 15, 1944. The first play to have been staged there was Saratchandra Chattopadhyay's Baikunther Will. This theatre was primarily meant for mythological plays. Birendrakrishna Bhadra and Krishnachandra Dey have performed there. Ramchandra had offered this stage to Radharani Devi for her first performance before she went on to become a noted singer. Child artist Minu of Bengali cinema was later married to Ramchandra. He himself played the role of Girish Ghosh in Yugavatar. Ramchandra had five sons. One of them - Arun Chowdhury - had studied films in California. On his return, he made docu-features. Arun was instrumental in converting this theatre into a cinema in 1948. Movietone Limited's presentation Ghumiye Achhe Gram was the first film to be screened at Kalika. Since this was first a stage, the acoustics actually gave an effect of a surround sound when songs from films were played during the screenings. Two projector machines were used for screenings. The cinema also had a food stall. Raj Kapoor had graced this cinema during the screening of Sree 420.