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 !
'Roxy' I remember for the 'Live' hoardings. My first memory of Roxy is the hoardings of 'Chirag kahan, Roshni kahan'. A small temple was built in the small terrace and at 7 pm, aarti used to start,entire hoarding used to become live,with a chirag at one end and series of lamps at the other. I used to remain glued to the balcony of my Grandpa's room to watch it for hours.
ReplyDelete'Opera House' was screening Sujata, I went to the movie with my father. During Interval, I saw some movie stars sitting in the theater compound.
Kutch Castle, belonging to Maharao of Kutch was at the corner.
After many years, in 1996, I was trapped in that area due to riots and my client took me to his flat, located in a building right at the foot of the bridge, just opposite Opera House. I went to the balcony and stood there, cherishing sweet (& sour) memories of bygone era.
'Bachpan ke din bhi kya din the....'!!