Apr 03 2016
:
The Times of India
(Mumbai)
Alexandra Cinema takes on new role as mosque
Ahmed Ali
Mumbai
|
Cinema buffs of a cer tain
vintage still wax eloquen about erstwhile Alexandra Ci nema's hammy film
title trans lations. On its Nagpada marqu ee, Alfred Hitchcock's `39
Steps was dubbed `Ek Kum Chaalis Lambe', `Double Impact' beca me `Ram
Aur Shyam' and `Bruce Lee The Legend' morphed into the
quintessentially-Bambaiya Dadaon Ka Dada Bruce Lee'. By the early
2000s, however Alexandra Cinema had gradua ted from showing Hollywood fa
re to B and C-grade films inter
spersed with adult films. It was a time when local residents asked
school bus drivers to switch routes so that impressionable school kids
weren't exposed to the “dirty“ posters.
Then about three years ago, in a startling about-face, the cinema hall took on a new avatar as a mosque-cum-Islamic institution. Today , the Dolby Digital speakers, which once blared item numbers, call the faithful to prayer and the audience's catcalls have given way to an imam chanting Quranic verses five times a day .
The transformation began in 2011, when south Mumbai builder Rafiq Dudhwala bought the sprawling 15,000sq ft proper ty for several crores and donated it to an Islamic NGO, Deeniyat, which deals in printing, dis tribution and the sale of Islamic books to Urdu and Arabic schools across the country. The huge structure stands bang opposite the Maharashtra College at Belasis road near Mumbai Central's Nagpada junction.
At one time, scores of cinema halls dotted this 3km radius.Ardeshir Irani, who began his career as an exhibitor in the early days of Indian cinema, opened Alexandra Cinema in 1921 along with co-owner Abdulally Esoofally, another tent showman-turned-movie magnate. It was inaugurated by barrister Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, says film scholar, curator and historian Am rit Gangar, and the first film screened was the silent movie `The Woman and the Puppet'.
Gangar often visited Alexandra in the late '70s and '80s for the ambience and to check out the film posters -his favourite was the 1969 thriller `Blow Hot, Blow Cold' which was written as `Below Hot, Below Cold' in Devnagari script to make it “more erotic and sexy“. At the time, ice-cream-walas and candy-floss-walas would throng the aisles and black-market-walas -with red `roomals' tied around their necks -would lurk near the entrance.The audience in these halls had a “visceral response“ to cinema, recalls Gangar. “They would dance, whistle, sing and shout abuses.“
From the outside, the theatre looks the same but its interiors have been transformed. More than 500 seats were removed to create a cavernous prayer hall where the faithful offer namaaz in the direction of Mecca, turning away from the 70mm screen. The balcony is used to store books on Islamic studies, the passage outside the hall has been converted into a `wazukhana' (a place to wash before prayers), the main entrance is now Deeniyat's office, the box office is a distribution window for Islamic literature.
Dudhwala declined to comment on the transformation but the change was welcomed by residents of surrounding Muslim-dominated areas like Clare road, Nagpada, Agripada and Mumbai Central. “He [Dudhwala] had bought this property to develop it but changed his mind and decided to donate it for a good cause. He has done a great job,“ said a former Urdu lecturer Khurshid Nomani.
The vulgar film posters infuriated ocal residents as there are three educational institutes in the vicinity -Akbar Peerbhoy Girls High School, Anjuman Islam Girls School and Maharashtra College. Some even avoided sending their children to these institu ions and the posters often incited vio ent protests.
“Many students were enraged by he vulgar posters and they tore the heatre's hoardings on several occasions, but it did not have any effect,“ recalls a Maharashtra College lecturer, who studied in the same institution.“The sale of the theatre has now closed this chapter. “
Then about three years ago, in a startling about-face, the cinema hall took on a new avatar as a mosque-cum-Islamic institution. Today , the Dolby Digital speakers, which once blared item numbers, call the faithful to prayer and the audience's catcalls have given way to an imam chanting Quranic verses five times a day .
The transformation began in 2011, when south Mumbai builder Rafiq Dudhwala bought the sprawling 15,000sq ft proper ty for several crores and donated it to an Islamic NGO, Deeniyat, which deals in printing, dis tribution and the sale of Islamic books to Urdu and Arabic schools across the country. The huge structure stands bang opposite the Maharashtra College at Belasis road near Mumbai Central's Nagpada junction.
At one time, scores of cinema halls dotted this 3km radius.Ardeshir Irani, who began his career as an exhibitor in the early days of Indian cinema, opened Alexandra Cinema in 1921 along with co-owner Abdulally Esoofally, another tent showman-turned-movie magnate. It was inaugurated by barrister Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, says film scholar, curator and historian Am rit Gangar, and the first film screened was the silent movie `The Woman and the Puppet'.
Gangar often visited Alexandra in the late '70s and '80s for the ambience and to check out the film posters -his favourite was the 1969 thriller `Blow Hot, Blow Cold' which was written as `Below Hot, Below Cold' in Devnagari script to make it “more erotic and sexy“. At the time, ice-cream-walas and candy-floss-walas would throng the aisles and black-market-walas -with red `roomals' tied around their necks -would lurk near the entrance.The audience in these halls had a “visceral response“ to cinema, recalls Gangar. “They would dance, whistle, sing and shout abuses.“
From the outside, the theatre looks the same but its interiors have been transformed. More than 500 seats were removed to create a cavernous prayer hall where the faithful offer namaaz in the direction of Mecca, turning away from the 70mm screen. The balcony is used to store books on Islamic studies, the passage outside the hall has been converted into a `wazukhana' (a place to wash before prayers), the main entrance is now Deeniyat's office, the box office is a distribution window for Islamic literature.
Dudhwala declined to comment on the transformation but the change was welcomed by residents of surrounding Muslim-dominated areas like Clare road, Nagpada, Agripada and Mumbai Central. “He [Dudhwala] had bought this property to develop it but changed his mind and decided to donate it for a good cause. He has done a great job,“ said a former Urdu lecturer Khurshid Nomani.
The vulgar film posters infuriated ocal residents as there are three educational institutes in the vicinity -Akbar Peerbhoy Girls High School, Anjuman Islam Girls School and Maharashtra College. Some even avoided sending their children to these institu ions and the posters often incited vio ent protests.
“Many students were enraged by he vulgar posters and they tore the heatre's hoardings on several occasions, but it did not have any effect,“ recalls a Maharashtra College lecturer, who studied in the same institution.“The sale of the theatre has now closed this chapter. “
Residents welcome makeover, say they are glad to be rid of vulgar posters
Cinema buffs of a cer tain
vintage still wax eloquen about erstwhile Alexandra Ci nema's hammy film
title trans lations. On its Nagpada marqu ee, Alfred Hitchcock's `39
Steps was dubbed `Ek Kum Chaalis Lambe', `Double Impact' beca me `Ram
Aur Shyam' and `Bruce Lee The Legend' morphed into the
quintessentially-Bambaiya Dadaon Ka Dada Bruce Lee'. By the early
2000s, however Alexandra Cinema had gradua ted from showing Hollywood fa
re to B and C-grade films inter
spersed with adult films. It was a time when local residents asked
school bus drivers to switch routes so that impressionable school kids
weren't exposed to the “dirty“ posters.
Then about three years ago, in a startling about-face, the cinema hall took on a new avatar as a mosque-cum-Islamic institution. Today , the Dolby Digital speakers, which once blared item numbers, call the faithful to prayer and the audience's catcalls have given way to an imam chanting Quranic verses five times a day .
The transformation began in 2011, when south Mumbai builder Rafiq Dudhwala bought the sprawling 15,000sq ft proper ty for several crores and donated it to an Islamic NGO, Deeniyat, which deals in printing, dis tribution and the sale of Islamic books to Urdu and Arabic schools across the country. The huge structure stands bang opposite the Maharashtra College at Belasis road near Mumbai Central's Nagpada junction.
At one time, scores of cinema halls dotted this 3km radius.Ardeshir Irani, who began his career as an exhibitor in the early days of Indian cinema, opened Alexandra Cinema in 1921 along with co-owner Abdulally Esoofally, another tent showman-turned-movie magnate. It was inaugurated by barrister Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, says film scholar, curator and historian Am rit Gangar, and the first film screened was the silent movie `The Woman and the Puppet'.
Gangar often visited Alexandra in the late '70s and '80s for the ambience and to check out the film posters -his favourite was the 1969 thriller `Blow Hot, Blow Cold' which was written as `Below Hot, Below Cold' in Devnagari script to make it “more erotic and sexy“. At the time, ice-cream-walas and candy-floss-walas would throng the aisles and black-market-walas -with red `roomals' tied around their necks -would lurk near the entrance.The audience in these halls had a “visceral response“ to cinema, recalls Gangar. “They would dance, whistle, sing and shout abuses.“
From the outside, the theatre looks the same but its interiors have been transformed. More than 500 seats were removed to create a cavernous prayer hall where the faithful offer namaaz in the direction of Mecca, turning away from the 70mm screen. The balcony is used to store books on Islamic studies, the passage outside the hall has been converted into a `wazukhana' (a place to wash before prayers), the main entrance is now Deeniyat's office, the box office is a distribution window for Islamic literature.
Dudhwala declined to comment on the transformation but the change was welcomed by residents of surrounding Muslim-dominated areas like Clare road, Nagpada, Agripada and Mumbai Central. “He [Dudhwala] had bought this property to develop it but changed his mind and decided to donate it for a good cause. He has done a great job,“ said a former Urdu lecturer Khurshid Nomani.
The vulgar film posters infuriated ocal residents as there are three educational institutes in the vicinity -Akbar Peerbhoy Girls High School, Anjuman Islam Girls School and Maharashtra College. Some even avoided sending their children to these institu ions and the posters often incited vio ent protests.
“Many students were enraged by he vulgar posters and they tore the heatre's hoardings on several occasions, but it did not have any effect,“ recalls a Maharashtra College lecturer, who studied in the same institution.“The sale of the theatre has now closed this chapter. “
Then about three years ago, in a startling about-face, the cinema hall took on a new avatar as a mosque-cum-Islamic institution. Today , the Dolby Digital speakers, which once blared item numbers, call the faithful to prayer and the audience's catcalls have given way to an imam chanting Quranic verses five times a day .
The transformation began in 2011, when south Mumbai builder Rafiq Dudhwala bought the sprawling 15,000sq ft proper ty for several crores and donated it to an Islamic NGO, Deeniyat, which deals in printing, dis tribution and the sale of Islamic books to Urdu and Arabic schools across the country. The huge structure stands bang opposite the Maharashtra College at Belasis road near Mumbai Central's Nagpada junction.
At one time, scores of cinema halls dotted this 3km radius.Ardeshir Irani, who began his career as an exhibitor in the early days of Indian cinema, opened Alexandra Cinema in 1921 along with co-owner Abdulally Esoofally, another tent showman-turned-movie magnate. It was inaugurated by barrister Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, says film scholar, curator and historian Am rit Gangar, and the first film screened was the silent movie `The Woman and the Puppet'.
Gangar often visited Alexandra in the late '70s and '80s for the ambience and to check out the film posters -his favourite was the 1969 thriller `Blow Hot, Blow Cold' which was written as `Below Hot, Below Cold' in Devnagari script to make it “more erotic and sexy“. At the time, ice-cream-walas and candy-floss-walas would throng the aisles and black-market-walas -with red `roomals' tied around their necks -would lurk near the entrance.The audience in these halls had a “visceral response“ to cinema, recalls Gangar. “They would dance, whistle, sing and shout abuses.“
From the outside, the theatre looks the same but its interiors have been transformed. More than 500 seats were removed to create a cavernous prayer hall where the faithful offer namaaz in the direction of Mecca, turning away from the 70mm screen. The balcony is used to store books on Islamic studies, the passage outside the hall has been converted into a `wazukhana' (a place to wash before prayers), the main entrance is now Deeniyat's office, the box office is a distribution window for Islamic literature.
Dudhwala declined to comment on the transformation but the change was welcomed by residents of surrounding Muslim-dominated areas like Clare road, Nagpada, Agripada and Mumbai Central. “He [Dudhwala] had bought this property to develop it but changed his mind and decided to donate it for a good cause. He has done a great job,“ said a former Urdu lecturer Khurshid Nomani.
The vulgar film posters infuriated ocal residents as there are three educational institutes in the vicinity -Akbar Peerbhoy Girls High School, Anjuman Islam Girls School and Maharashtra College. Some even avoided sending their children to these institu ions and the posters often incited vio ent protests.
“Many students were enraged by he vulgar posters and they tore the heatre's hoardings on several occasions, but it did not have any effect,“ recalls a Maharashtra College lecturer, who studied in the same institution.“The sale of the theatre has now closed this chapter. “
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