Vanishing Icons of Mumbai…
The other day I was thumbing
through the newspaper “The Times Of India” in the late evening after a day long
at office. Reading some interesting articles when my eyes caught an articles
which struck a nostalgic chord.. The EROS theater one of the last remaining
single screen cinema halls screening English Hollywood movies along with the
usual Bollywood blockbusters is thinking of downing its shutters.Memories came
swirling of watching movies here. We travel in trains as a group land up at the
iconic and buzzing station of Churchgate come out through the subway onto the
pavement staring at EROS Cinema right across the road. The building
architecture being Art Deco type .
EROS has been one of Mumbai’s most amazing movie theatres for people of all
social classes
and sects.
EROS theater was founded by Mr.Shiavax
S.Cambata in the year 1938 at Churchgate , in the middle of Mumbai’s (erstwhile
Bombay) business district. Architects Shorabji Bhedwar designed
the Streamline Moderne building, it marked the beginning of Back Bay
reclamation in early 1938. The foundation of Eros Cinema was laid in
1935. The cinema opened in 1938 with a seating capacity of 1204 the
largest ever for a movie theter of its kind.The construction of this building
on the then newly reclaimed Backbay plot housing shops and other businesses,
apart from the cinema, took about two and a half years to complete. Partially
faced with red Agra sandstone, this building is painted cream. The two wings of
this Art Deco building meet up in a central block. The foyer is in white and
black marble with touches of gold. Marble staircases with chromium handrails
lead up to the upper floor. The murals are in muted colours depicting Indian
architectures.
It used to play the latest Hollywood movies from
production house like Disney , New Line Cinema and Metro Golwyn Myer (MGM ) The
movies transported the viewers into a magical world of action , adventure and
thrills. I remember watching the Hollywood Classic “The Guns of Navarone”
starring the greats like Gregory Peck , David Niven and Anthony Quinn , a story
revolving around World War II Battle of Leros during
the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II. The movie was ibnspired
by the book which tells the story of the efforts of
an Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable
German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean
Sea.A movie with twist and turns and lots of action and a grand finale in the form
of a climax where when the hoist of the huge Guuns reaches a trigger set up the
explosive expert, the hidden explosives set off the surrounding shells in a
huge explosion destroys the guns and the
entire fortress paving the way for Allied Force victory. A great experience
which is still remembered even today.
But all this is lost now with the Mumbai suburban district collector Ashwini Joshi sealing the Cambata building which houses EROS
theatre weeks after it filledd a frst information report against Cambata
Aviation, and, Bird Worldwide Flight Service for allegedly refusing to
cooperate with the government offcials who were confiscating its equipment on
court orders due the lobour dispute and complaint filed by their workers
regarding the pending dues not being paid to them. A icon falling into oblivion
and will only be remembered by loyal patrons who experienced the magical world
of the movies there.
Catch a cab or Walk down to
Horniman Circle and in one of the old bylane you have another icon “The Strand
Book Stall”, Strand Book Stall began as
a book kiosk in the lounge of then-glamorous Strand Cinema in Colaba in 1948.
Shanbagh had come to Mumbai from a hamlet in Karnataka to study at St Xavier’s
College. After an ofcious salesperson made him feel unwelcome at
a bookshop, he decided to set up his own where customers wouldn’t be turned
away for browsing and
books were affordable. The cinema manager had been so taken by Shanbagh
that he had the shelves put up himself. Shanbagh got together Rs450 for his
frst consignment. The earlier generations of the Tatas, Birlas and Godrejs used
to come to the cinema. They started finding interesting books
there and became hooked to his salesmanship and recommendations. The store kept
its name when it moved in 1956, about a 10-minute drive away to its present
rented address in a quiet lane in the business district of Fort. This is the
bookshop that was frequented by India’s famous thinkers. Scientist Vikram
Sarabhai introduced India’s missile man APJ Abdul Kalam to the bookstore owner
TN Shanbagh saying, “Ignore his recommendations at your peril”. Author
Khushwant Singh once called Strand the only “personal bookshop” in India.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh used to drop by often during his days as
the RBI Governor. Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was spirited inside
one night after lock-up so he could browse in peace. When Shanbagh billed him
the store’s standard 20 per cent discount and Nehru protested, he replied, “It
is my duty to serve our leaders”. Shanbagh was known to offer customers who
couldn’t afford a either a lower price or the chance to pay later.
Vidya Virkar daughter of the
legendary Mr.Shanbagh ,initiated Strand’s popular annual book-sale festivals,
and held book readings at the other outposts from 1995. The Strand never sold
its soul. They weren’t a second-hand bookshop, They also didn’t want to have a restaurant or stationery to offset the
loss of the bookshop. They were purists, they wanted nothing but books.
Strand’s many charms were the year-round discounts, the quick and able
assistance, the mix of bestsellers and rarely stocked titles. But it could’t
fight the onslaught of the Digital World. It couldn’t stand up to the
increasing turn to online delivery and digital readers Earlier, they were the
place that got books from the UK and US;
added titles from all thier customers to make a big lot so they could
keep the price low, Now only Amazon and Flipkart can import as they get enough
orders to make the air freight economical.So with heavy heart on 28 February 2018,
Strand Book Stall will close shop, a day after the ninth death anniversary of
its beloved owner TN Shanbagh.Another icon biting the dust amongst the wind of
change in this new digital age. A great loss to all the readers and the world
of the written word . A place where time stood still in the form books and the
atmosphere filled with soft smell of paper and ink.
From the smell of paper and ink ,
I remember the smell of fresh coffee and hot refreshing snacka t another icon Café
Naaz at Malabar Hill . A restaurant literally on top of the world overlooking
the Mumbai city’s skyline. An unforgettable experience. From Cafe Naaz, one could see the curvaceous Marine Drive beyond the lush
greens of Malabar Hill. Or maybe it was company you kept there — Mahesh Bhatt,
Shobhaa De, Sanjay Dutt, Sheetal Mafatlal, theatre personalities, artistes,
writers, journalists, film-makers, this was where the hip crowd gathered. Vinod
and Kavita Khanna are said to have thrown a grand wedding party here. A young
socialite rented the threelevel cafe for a private party, liveried waiters
setting up the food before she arrived, a rather elaborate affair for a
solitary guest — a textile magnate she would later marry.You who this pretty
socialite was non other than Maureen Wadia .
Over 100 Bollywood movies had scenes
featuring Naaz. Naaz is the
stuff of urban legend, as were its chelo kababs, succulent meat on a bed of
rice fragrant with Iranian saffron. Cafe Naaz was for the guy who drove up in a
Cadillac as much as for the handcart-pusher who would stop for chai,says So if the Chelo kababs were priced at Rs 250 a
plate, there was always a Rs 5 cup of tea to be enjoyed, the view came free.
Whatever it was that drew them to this Irani cafe, it kept them returning for
more.
The restaurant was started in 1944 by another generation of
Iranis, when Malabar Hill was thickly forested with only a mud path leading to
the top. In the late 1990s, following years of litigation, the restaurant had
to fold up with the BMC ousting its tenant over an expired lease. The BMC had
taken the land back ostensibly for its water works department. A few years ago,
the authorities also floated the idea of an “observatory”, a vantage point to
look over the city, for a fee. Now, well over a decade later, part of the
property is used by a municipal union as office space, the rest of the
once-bustling cafe and sit-out reduced to a large litterbin and an overgrowth
of weeds.
Today there’s no signboard, no anticipation of a turnaround, nobody to claim the space as the city’s. Cafe Naaz keeps its desolate vigil over the bay, standing over interments of memories of a different city, a city which is loosing its soul to the Glitz , Glamour and Gimmickry.
Another icon which got lost a couple of years back was the
mecca of Music , a shop for all genre’s – The Rhythm House at Kala Ghoda an
important landmark in the Art disctrict of Mumbai. The store started out in
the early 1940s, set up by a Curmally family friend, before Mehmood’sfather
took over the business, and eventually passed it on to his brother, Amir, and
Mehmood. In its early days, the shop sold imported 78rpm records. As the years
went on, the family saw various mediums of recorded music come and go, as it
sold jukeboxes, vinyl, then cassettes, before stocking the CDs and DVDs. They
specialised more in imported western music at first and when the Indian
companies came in and started manufacturing Indian records, of course they
started stocking that as well. In recent years, the shop has offered a variety
of styles from Indian classical music and Bollywood hits to jazz and the latest
pop albums by the likes of Justin Bieber.
Bollywood music directors Kalyanji
Anandji dropped in to get inspired, Shammi Kapoor and Pt Ravi Shankar were
regulars. Jethro Tull, The Police, Peter Andre, Zakir Hussain and AR Rahman
have all visited.
It was never “just a music shop”
that sold records or cassettes . Rhythm House had a character of its own that
defined it. Its USP was the knowledgeable and helpful staff and a collection
wider and well curated that any other store in the city. That’s what made it a winner.
But in 2016 it shut shop on 7th March , after years of
standing tall against the odds of digital streaming it was put on the block for
sale. Due to its ideal location in the [posh and upmarket area of Fort and
flanked by Jahagir Art Gallery and Maxmuller Bhavan , it was lapped up by the
then famous diamantaire –Nirav Modi who tried to convert it into a Jewellery
showroom . But never got around to it.
But amonst the despair there is still some hope left .With
news headlines screming loud on the Nirav Modi Banking scam of more than 12000
Crores a small story got missed out a
Tweet by Industrailist Anand Mahindra putting out an idea of Crowdfunding to
revive the lost icon of Rhythm House at Kala Ghoda and taking it over from the
notorious Jeweller Nirav Modi and handing it to its patrons the new shareholders
and owner .A great way to revive these iconic places.
As they say Umid pe duniya
kayam hai .. So lets hope and pray that all these vanishing Icons are once
again restored to their glory for the new generations to come.
