Purna Theatre was initially known as Russa Theatre. Established in 1877 by Manomoy Bandyopadhyay, Russa Theatre used to host a combination of variety shows and short films. It was taken on lease by the Maitra family that owned Calcutta Chemicals.  But the business did not run for long. Manomoy took back the land and started to run the theatre himself. Then Manomoy's son Sasanka Sekhar became its owner. It was under Sasanka Sekhar that the hall changed its name to Purna. It was named after Purnendu Sekhar, the brother of Sasanka, who passed away at  a very young age.Russa/ Purna was the first cinema to be run by a Bengali. Dhirendranath Gangopadhyay’s Bilet Pherot was screened there. The Theatre building underwent major renovations in the 1920s, including new Westrex projection machines, the creation of a space for a restaurant (Basanta Cabin) on the second floor, and air conditioning for the hall itself. It culminated with the introduction of talkies. The first movie with sound shown in Purna Theatre was All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930.