The historic Royal Opera House of Bombay was built in 1909 on Queen’s Road, about a mile away from the infamous “Pilhouse” area. Built at a time when cement and concrete were yet to become the mainstay of construction, it was the brainchild of Maurice E. Bandmann, a famous entertainer from Calcutta and Jehangir Framji Karaka, who headed a firm of coal brokers. Its design borrowed styles from European and Indian architecture. There were 26 ‘boxes’ behind the stalls where the Europeans sat with their families, having left their babies in the care of nannies at home. Excellent acoustics, chandeliers (donated by the David Sassoon family from their Mansion ‘Sans Souci’ at Byculla), and ornamental features were installed. King George V inaugurated the building in 1911 during his visit to India. The Opera House was completed in 1915 at a total cost of 7.5 lakhs of rupees, but performances began even before that date. Bal Gandharva and Dinanath Mangeshkar were among the illustrious performers. Lata Mangeshkar, the most famous female playback singer of India, gave her first performance at the Opera House. After independence operas and plays were rarely held there and the Opera House was converted in to a cinema. Due to arrival of the video, cinemas began to close down one by one. Opera House was closed down in 1991.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 09:30:49 +0000
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