Leopold Cafe | |
---|---|
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1871 |
Owner(s) | Farzad Jehani, Deenyar Jehani |
Food type | multi-cuisine |
City | Mumbai |
State | Maharashtra |
Country | India |
Coordinates | 18°55′22″N72°49′54″E / 18.9227°N 72.8316°E |
Other information | Open Daily 7:30am-12am [1] |
Website | leopoldcafe.com |
The Leopold Cafe and Bar is a restaurant and bar [2] on Colaba Causeway, in Colaba area of Mumbai, India, located across from the Colaba Police station. [3] [4] It was one of the first sites attacked in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. [5]
The Leopold Cafe was founded in 1871 by Iranis (a term used for Zoroastrians in Mumbai who arrived in India in the 19th century, as opposed to "Parsis") and named after King Leopold of the Belgians. These Zoroastrian Iranians came to India in the late 19th and early 20th century, and many of them opened restaurants now often termed Irani cafés. [6] It first started out as a wholesale cooking oil store and over the years has variously been a restaurant, store and pharmacy (hence the name "Leopold Cafe & Stores" [7] ). [8]
Prior to the terrorist attack, the cafe was particularly known as a popular hangout for foreign tourists. After the attack, it is now also popular with many Indians to commemorate the spirit of defiance. The Leopold Cafe has preserved some of the signs of the attack as a memorial, whereas at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and the Trident Hotel, the damage from the attacks has been repaired. [9]
The cafe uses an Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton as a part of its logo to indicate its Zoroastrian affiliation.
The cafe is one of a couple of Irani cafes that are still doing good business, while many others are fading away. [10]
The cafe was an early site of gunfire and grenade explosions during the 2008 Mumbai attacks by terrorists on 26 November, at about 9:30 PM. The terrorists, approximately an hour after landing, fired shots into the restaurant from outside, killing 10 people and injuring many others. The restaurant was extensively damaged during the attacks. [11] Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter and one of the first media witnesses of the attack, suffered severe bullet injuries. [12] [13] After spending one and a half minutes at the Leopold Cafe, the terrorists walked over to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the main target.
The cafe defiantly reopened four days after the attack, [14] [15] but was reclosed on the recommendation of the police as a safety measure after two hours, due to the unexpectedly large size of crowds gathering there. [16]
The cafe was also mentioned extensively in the novel Shantaram and its sequel The Mountain Shadow . [17] Shantaram is about an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from jail and flees to Bombay, as Mumbai was formerly called. Of all the very typical "Bombay" things and places mentioned in the book is the Leopold Café. The novel was the reason many patrons returned after the attack. [18]
The Parsis or Parsees are a Zoroastrian in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, when Zoroastrians were persecuted by the early Muslims. Representing the eldest of the Indian subcontinent's two Zoroastrian communities, the Parsi people are culturally, linguistically, and socially distinct from the Iranis, whose Zoroastrian ancestors migrated to British-ruled India from Qajar-era Iran. The word Parsi is derived from the Persian language, and literally translates to Persian.
Rattanbai Jinnah or Maryam Jinnah (legally)(néePetit; 20 February 1900 – 20 February 1929), also known as Ruttie Petit, was the wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an important figure in the creation of Pakistan and the country's founder.
Nariman Point is a prominent downtown area of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. Located on the southern tip of the Mumbai peninsula, at the end of the Mumbai's Marine Drive, Nariman Point houses some of India's prestigious business headquarters.
Colaba is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbhat. After the British took over the island in the late 17th century, it was known as Kolio.
Marine Drive is a 3 kilometre-long promenade along the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road in Mumbai, India. The road and promenade were constructed by Pallonji Mistry. It is a banana-shaped, six-lane concrete road along the coast of a natural bay. At the northern end of Marine Drive is Girgaon Chowpatty and the adjacent road links Nariman Point at the southern tip to Babulnath and Malabar Hill at the northern tip. Marine Drive is situated on reclaimed land facing west-south-west. Marine Drive is also known as the Queen's Necklace because, when viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the streetlights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace.
South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahalaxmi, Byculla and Mazgaon neighbourhoods, and comprises the city's old and formerly main business localities, making it the wealthiest urban precinct in India. Property prices in South Mumbai are by far the highest in India and among the highest in the world. In terms of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the precinct consists of the constituencies of Colaba, Mumbadevi, Malabar Hill and Byculla.
The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel in the Colaba area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Indo-Saracenic style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has historically often been known simply as "The Taj". The hotel is named after the Taj Mahal, which is located in the city of Agra approximately 1,050 kilometres (650 mi) from Mumbai. It has been considered one of the finest hotels in the East since the time of the British Raj. The hotel was one of the main targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The Iranis are an ethno-religious community in the Indian subcontinent; they descend from the Zoroastrians who emigrated from Iran to British India in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are culturally, linguistically, ethnically and socially distinct from the Parsis, who – although also Zoroastrians – immigrated to the Indian subcontinent from Greater Iran many centuries prior, starting with the Islamic conquest of Persia.
Colaba Causeway, officially known as Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, is a commercial street, and a major causeway or land link between Colaba and the Old Woman's Island in the city of Mumbai, India.
Irani cafés are Iranian-style cafés in the Indian subcontinent. They were originally opened by Zoroastrian Irani immigrants to British India in the 19th century, fleeing Safavid persecution or looking for better economic prospects. In India, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad boast a number of Irani cafés, which are very popular for Irani chai (tea). In the 1950s, there were 350 Irani cafés in Mumbai; only 25 remained in the city as of 2005. Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, it is estimated that the number of Irani cafés has shrank from 450 in the 2000s to 125 in 2024. Karachi, Pakistan, was also home to many Irani cafés.
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, carried out 12 shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday 26 November and lasted until Saturday 29 November 2008. A total of 175 people died, including nine of the attackers, with more than 300 injured.
In the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, there were multiple and far-ranging events that were observed. Besides the immediate impact on the victims and their families, the attacks caused widespread anger among the Indian public, and condemnations from countries throughout the world.
Faheem Ansari, also known as Mohammad Faheem Ansari, is an Indian Muslim who was charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks on false grounds as per lack of evidence but convicted for fake Pakistani passport forging and aiding in attack of UP CRPF camp. He was also charged with being a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic terrorist organization. All these allegations were proven wrong. He was arrested in February 2009 along with five others, charged with these crimes and prosecuted, but was acquitted after being given benefit of doubt. The late Shahid Azmi was his lawyer and fought his case pro bono. Faheem Ansari was discharged by court in May 2010, a few months after Shahid Azmi's death by gunmen in February 2010. He was released after 12 years of detention because of a case, in which he was acquitted because of lack of evidence.
Gokul is a pub in Colaba, Mumbai. Located behind The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel next to Regal Cinema, it is renowned for its cheap alcoholic beverages sold almost at retail value. Because of its low prices it is popular with the students of institutes in the area, achieving cult status with them. However, it is also frequented by journalists, lawyers, researchers and businessmen who work in the South Mumbai area.
SirJamshedji Nusserwanji Tata was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. He established the city of Jamshedpur.
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Hotel Mumbai is a 2018 independent action thriller film directed by Anthony Maras and co-written by Maras and John Collee. An Indian-Australian-American co-production, it is inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai about the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India. The film stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Jason Isaacs, Suhail Nayyar, Nagesh Bhosle, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo.
Mumbai Diaries is an Indian Hindi-language medical thriller television series. It is set in the emergency room of a government hospital, focusing on the challenges faced by medical staff and first responders during times of crises. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on 9 September 2021. The series was created and directed by Nikkhil Advani, along with Nikhil Gonsalves. The filming of the series took place in real locations that were part of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Gateway of India, and Leopold Café.