Three Bridges connecting to Opera House Junction

Just as the  Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati  rivers meet at Triveni Sangam in Allahabad,  Sandhurst Bridge, Kennedy Bridge and French Bridge meet at Opera House Junction. Their respective importance is also in the same order.


Pious Ganapati immersion processions pass through Sandhurst Bridge, with people thronging on both sides for the “darshan”. After Gandhiji’s death, an urn containing his ashes had also passed through the same bridge, with a large part of Mumbai’s population converging at the Bridge.

A photo studio, at its Chowpatty end, continued to display Raj Kapoor’s photo, taken at the studio, in his early twenties. At the Hughes Road end of the bridge, a tailor’s shop (YAKs) also similarly basked in the reflected glory of Raj Kapoor, by prominently displaying a photograph of Raj Kapoor, in a suit stitched by them in his early twenties.

More or less next to this historic building is Farbes Sabha building. It was built in memory of  Forbes, a British national in India, who mastered the Gujarati language and published articles in Gujarati, 

Just as the Yamuna passes through Delhi, which is the seat of power, few in Mumbai know that Kennedy Bridge, is right next to Congress House.

Queen Mary School for girls, is situated in the same surroundings, Among others, Nargis has been a well known alumni student of the school.

The other end of Kennedy Bridge had a cinema studio (Jyoti Studio) and also an excellent shop on an upper floor of a building. It offered excellent varieties of home grown cheese from Karen Anand’s farm in Pune.

Tutorial High School, also situated at the Nana Chowk end of the Bridge, is hardly spoken of. Yet, very few know that none other than the great Nani Palkhiwala studied here.

One of the many high profile cases won by him was the case against the Government after Indira Gandhi abolished the Privy Purse, filed by princes for restoration of Privy Purse. She then turned the tide against them by passing an ordinance.

 Mr R K Laxman, the eminent cartoonist of “The Times of India”  and actually of India, had published a front page cartoon in the TOI, showing a typical prince on one side of a chess game and Indira Gandhi on the other. She was shown getting up in anger and disgust (against the court’s decision), picking up the chess board and throwing it, saying “ So I win !”

Nani Palkhiwala liked that cartoon  so much that he got it enlarged to  a very large size and displayed it permanently behind his desk in his chamber at Tatas’ headquarters in Bombay House. I happened to be working in the same office building and had the privilege to meet him in his office. Hence this first person  account  !

The third bridge at Opera House, viz. French Bridge, like the Saraswati, is relatively a quiet  place. It has Theosophical Society’s head quarter, set up by Dr Annie Besant. The Bridge’s Opera House end is swarming with doctors. Morarji Desai’s personal physician, Dr Mohanlal Popat, who had roaring practice, and became a minster in the State   Government, practiced there.  
 
Another eminent doctor there was  the renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr K T Dholakia. I was once sitting in his waiting room, waiting for my turn, to seek his instructions for post operative treatment of my ailing grandfather (87). The only other person waiting with me was the well known singer Mukesh, with his son Nitin, who had a fracture, in his lap. When Mukesh learnt, through our conversation, that I had my mathematics paper of my final year engineering degree exam the next morning, he, on his own, let me go in before him. I was touched by his gesture.  I will never forget his gracious offer, which, just like his songs, came from the bottom of his heart.

New Queen's Road (Mama Paramanand Marg)

There were three car showrooms in Opera House area. Bombay Cycle & Motor Agency (First Studebaker Chevrolet and then Fiat), Dadaji Dhakjee (Hillman) and the third one on New Queen’s Road, where the present diamond hub “Panchratna” stands. Dev Anand and other celebrities took deliveries of their first cars here.

With Opera House Theatre at one end and Roxy Theatre at the other, this road was frequented by movie goers. Roxy held a record of “Kismet” running for three years, It also had, to its credit, other blockbusters from yesteryears like “Kangan”, Bandhan” and “Achhut Kanya”. People from far away suburbs like Andheri and Vile Parle flocked there to see movies.

Staying right opposite the Theatre, I could see its huge posters being changed on Thursday midnights.  It was also a pleasure to see stars arriving in their own cars and upcoming stars coming in borrowed or hired cars for premiers. One had to see Rajesh Khanna being mobbed by a bevy of young girls, to believe it.

 There was a small terrace over its booking office in front.  I still remember Shammi Kapoor and Jaikishan coming out there, with their hands on each other’s shoulders, to watch the posters of “Junglee”. I still remember a rainy afternoon when “Gunj Uthhi Shehnai” had its first day, first show. There was no queue at the ticket window and the board showed tickets being available.  My cousin and I took an instant decision to watch the movie. For just one Rupee five Annas, we could have an earful of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai. It would have otherwise cost us more than Rupees ten in a concert, which we could ill afford.

Few realize that the Theatre was located within Swadeshi Mills Compound, which was once a bustling textile mill. With the then Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BB&CI)’s goods terminal at Grant Road located nearby, facilitating bales of cotton coming from Malwa  and Mumbai docks also  nearby, to help exporting cloth to Manchester, it was an ideal location for a mill. The premises later made way for a godown for Firestone tyres. It also housed a  shed which developed excellent expertise in manufacturing world class gears and, hold your breath, a maternity home. I had the rare pleasure of watching, from my window at home, my new born kid brother and later a cousin sister kicking around in their prams in the front rooms of the maternity home.

The tyre godown finally went up in flames, paving way for one more building housing diamond merchants.

A building next to Roxy (Dreamland) had a super star of yesteryears, Gowhar Banoo, staying in it.The flat was gifted to her by Sardar Chandulal Shah, owner of Ranjit Studios and  race horses. Watching her come to her balcony was a treat for my mother.

The road also boasted of radio showrooms. Lakhanpal’s Murphy (famous more for its Murphy baby calendar), Philips (Its dealer Jamnadas Rutonshi specialized in exchanging old radio sets with new models and making his customers bankrupt !) and Fazalbhoy’s National Radio, later taken over by Tatas as Nelco. Presently it houses State Bank of India.

This road had shops for cinema projectors also. Cinema owners from all over India came here for shopping.

There is a J B Patel petrol pump  at the junction of this road with  Queen’s Road. Seen as a neighbourhood facility till 1965, the two Indo Pak wars  saw residents of nearby buildings shiver with fear that in case of a possible bombardment, the pump would literally add fuel to the fire !

Opera House Theatre and Junction

One of my most cherished memories of is that of an impressive personality of Prithviraj Kapoor. After his show of a drama of Prithvi Theatre ended on Sunday afternoons, he stood at the exit door of Royal Opera House Theatre. Dressed in a snow white pyjama kurta, he held his “khes” in his hands, looking down and gracefully accepting donations for welfare of his workers.

I lived in a building at the other end of the footpath on New Queen’s Road (Mama Parmanand Marg). for nearly a decade and half. I considered Opera House Theatre and its surrounding area as a sacred place for lovers of music, drama and fine arts. Just as pilgrims visit Gangotri, to have a “darshan” of the sacred place where the holy Ganges originates, Opera House junction is a fountainhead of fine arts.

Classical music lovers will always bow their head with respect, when the name of Pandit D V Paluskar is mentioned.  Opera House junction, where as many as eight roads meet, has been named after him. He ran a music school at a corner of the junction.

Music always played a very important role in Prithvi Theatre’s dramas. Raj Kapoor personally contributed to its music score, besides playing small roles in the dramas. Shammi Kapoor also played key roles and Shashi Kapoor was a popular child artist. Music veterans like Ram Ganguli and lyricists of the calibre of Deepak played stellar roles in the success of the dramas. Shankar came from Hyderabad and Jaikishan from Bulsar.  They sat in front of the stage and played musical instruments, adding to the grandeur of live music at Prithvi Theatre.

A bus conductor, who roamed on the footpath outside the Theatre in his spare time, was moved when he saw a hawker dying there and lying unattended. He instantly wrote a poem and was noticed by Prithviraj. That was how Hasrat Jaipuri entered. Shailendra joined after Raj Kapoor made his debut as a film producer.

There was a cafeteria within the Theatre compound. The foursome of Shankar, Jaikishan, Hasrat and Shailendra used to sit for hours together, working on creative musical scores. Many immortal songs must have been conceived there. Strangely, however, they chose to hold most of their sessions not in this cafeteria, because it charged higher rates meant for the audience of the Theatre. but patronized an Irany restaurant located just across the road. Often I went to that restaurant to buy bread or eggs and found them sitting in a midst of discussion, over bun maska and tea. I could get a grand view of the Theatre’s imposing frontage, with an artistic statue at its top. I am glad it is being renovated, to restore the heritage structure.

Another musical genius, who went almost unsung, lived in the same locality, at the foot of Kennedy Bridge. He had a long span of 20 years as a music director but composed for only 14 films. He was highly revered by Lata Mangeshkar. He was Sajjad Hussein (“Sangdil” fame – Yeh hawa, yeh raat aur yeh chandni )

Opera House Theatre had an adjoining  building, which was pulled down  by dance ballet producer Yogen Desai, to make way for “Kala Bhavan” . Asha Parekh, who was his leading lady, rehearsed there for years.

Opera House Theatre screened many memorable films. Its specialty was many large posters lined up on its long compound wall. Their memories are worthwhile for exclusive  coverage in a full chapter, some time in future.

As I retrace Mumbai...

Retracing one’s steps is like going backward on a Time Machine. It evokes fond memories of the past. I cherish such memories of Mumbai and wish to share these with those who love this city.

I grew up in and with this charming city, from early forties. Many others like me, as well as those who have an emotional bonding with  this fabulous  city, may wish to read about how this city has witnessed exciting moments and also been privileged to witness eminent personalities growing in stature.  Apart from me, who learned to walk and talk in this city, there are many others who reached Mumbai midstream in their life and started loving it. Then there are still others who belong somewhere else and keep coming back to Mumbai again and again, out of their sheer love for Mumbai. Even for those who, for some reason, cannot return to the city, their heart is still in Mumbai.


They all are invited, through this blog, to share my treasure of fond memories, less known bits of interesting information and a small part of history, as it is known to me.


I have chosen to cover this canvas, which is too large to do justice in one stretch, over a series of write ups. I intend to write twice or thrice a month and go on, till I exhaust my treasure trove.


Interested readers are, of course, welcome to open and join in a dialogue and may even contribute, to add what I may be missing out on and thus enrich the exercise of retracing Mumbai.


Retracing Mumbai is fascinating when looking at its roads, streets, chowks and places, taking one at a time. Each of these has seen famous personalities and memorable events. I have been a witness to many of these. Also, rare information has filtered in from various credible sources. This way, I expect that, apart from famous landmarks like Kala Ghoda, even obscure names like Tukaram Javji Road would come alive. After all, roads and streets are akin to arteries and veins. They come alive only when memories and blood flow in them respectively. Hence this retracing will not remain merely recounting interesting events and impressive personalities linked to places in Mumbai. It will, instead, bring up flashbacks, just as Gulzar Sahab weaves narration of stories in his films.