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Journalism of Courage
The grandeur of the Royal Opera House will pose an interesting contrast to some of the events its curator, Asad Lalljee, would like to see it host. “Its grandeur may be intimidating to the common man, but we want it to be used by people. Otherwise, the renovation will be pointless,” says Lalljee. Along with his team, Avid Learning, Lalljee is working to once again make the 105-year-old heritage building in Charni Road an active performing arts space. So when its doors finally open on October 20, after years of extensive restoration, Royal Opera House’s elaborately painted ceilings, massive glass chandeliers and the giant 10.5×9.2 stage will form the backdrop for the opening ceremony of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. The festival will open with the screening of A Death in the Gunj, directed by Konkona Sensharma. “We are honoured to have our opening ceremony at the Royal Opera House. We could not have asked for a better host — a host with a legacy that goes back over a hundred years,” says Kiran Rao, Chairperson of Jio MAMI.
The opening may be of a film festival, but those pearl string necklaces and dapper men will not be relegated to history. The day after the reopening, on October 21, the walls of this Mumbai landmark will resound with the rich music of Indian soprano Patricia Rozario and British pianist Mark Troop. But the audience will not comprise only the city’s elite. Lalljee believes that the space needs to be a part of the wider cultural ecosystem, accessible to everyone. “Although it is a striking heritage building unlike the other cultural spaces in Mumbai, the importance of the Opera House will depend on how people take to it. We want the space to remain relevant to what’s going on in the city today,” says Lalljee. He hopes that it will become a vibrant cultural space that can be placed alongside institutions such as the NCPA or Prithvi Theatre. The venue hopes to host an array of events — ranging from fashion shows and art exhibitions to book launches, talks, plays, and music concerts.
In the ’50s, when cinema as a medium was growing in popularity, the owners made structural changes to the building and converted it into a single screen. But the decision proved damaging in the longer run once multiplexes came in. The Opera House, along with other single screen theatres like Metro, Liberty and Capitol, fell into disrepair. The venue was eventually shut down in 1993.
The Gondal royal family, which owns the building, decided to restore it in 2009. They hired conservation architect Abha Lambah, who took upon the challenge of restoring Opera House to its original glory. “The structure had been altered a fair bit over the decades,” Lambah explains. “At one point, the interiors were done over in the art deco style. The foyers were covered up by candy coloured paint — bright pinks and pistachio greens — and the balconies were painted in hideous pink and brown,” she says. There was such a disconnect between the building’s interiors and exteriors, that the effect was physically and visually jarring. “The look of the space where performances take place always impacts the overall experience,” says Lambah, who for the last seven years, has worked to ensure that the building returns to its true character. She has relied on traces of the the original structure, oral histories, old photographs from the catalogue the Opera House used to release, written descriptions, and film clips to piece together what it used to look like.
“It gives me immense pleasure to see the Royal Opera House being revived back to its original glory. The Gondal family has always been a great patron of art, culture, and education. The Royal Opera House in this new avatar is our gift to the city of Mumbai,” says Shri Vikram Sinhji, the Maharaja of Gondal.
