"The Theatre Magnificent" | |
Location | SP Mukherjee Chowk Mumbai, India |
---|---|
Public transit | Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus; Churchgate |
Type | Cinema Hall |
Construction | |
Opened | 1933 |
Renovated | 2017 |
Architect | Charles Stevens |
Criteria | Cultural: (ii) (iv) |
Designated | 2018 (43rd session) |
Part of | Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai |
Reference no. | 1480 |
The Regal Cinema is an Art deco movie theatre located at Colaba Causeway, in Mumbai, India. [1] Built by Framji Sidhwa, the first film to be aired at the Regal was the Laurel and Hardy work The Devil's Brother in 1933. [2] [3]
According to the Limca Book of Records , it is the first air conditioned theatre of India. [4]
The Regal Cinema was built during the cinema boom of the 1930s during which Plaza Central, New Empire, Broadway, Eros and Metro all opened in Mumbai. Opened in 1933, Regal was designed by Charles Stevens, the son of the famous 19th century architect F. W. Stevens. Its interiors with extensive mirror-work were designed by the Czech artist Karl Schara. The main auditorium had a motif of sunrays in pale orange and jade green. Its interiors were designed to create an impression of airiness, coolness and size in harmony with the modern simplicity of the exteriors. The Regal was built completely in reinforced concrete cement (RCC), fully air conditioned, and had an underground parking lot for patrons. The elevator up from the parking area was a major innovation at the time.
The cinema was the third venue to host the Filmfare Awards night. [5] Today, it is a multi-use building combining a cinema with shops at street level.
The Regal Cinema was the lead theatre hosting the 17th Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), held in 2015, starting from Friday, 29 October 2015. Also, The Regal Cinema was the lead theatre hosting the 18th. Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), held in 2016.
Connaught Place, officially known as Rajiv Chowk, is one of the main financial, commercial and business centres in New Delhi, Delhi, India. It houses the headquarters of several noted Indian firms and is a major shopping, nightlife, and tourist destination in New Delhi. As of July 2018, Connaught Place was the ninth most expensive office location in the world with an annual rent of $1,650 per square metre ($153/sq ft).
Metro INOX Cinemas is an Art Deco Heritage grade IIA multiplex Movie theatre in Mumbai, India built in 1938. It was built and originally run by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The main architect of the cinema was Thomas W. Lamb of New York City, and D. W. Ditchburn of Mumbai was the associate architect. It was one of the main sites targeted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
PVR INOX Ltd, formerly known as PVR Cinemas, is an Indian multiplex chain based in Delhi. It was formed as a result of the merger between PVR Cinemas and INOX Leisure Multiplex. PVR pioneered the multiplex revolution in India by establishing the first multiplex cinema in 1997 at Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. In 2022, PVR Cinemas achieved the milestone of completing 25 years in the business. As of December 2023, PVR Inox has 1747 screens across 359 properties in 114 cities.
The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the city of Mumbai, India. Actor, producer and author Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the chairperson of the trust while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur serves as the interim Festival Director.
The Limca Book of Records is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorised into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adventure, radio and cinema.
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.
Royal Opera House, more commonly known simply as Opera House in Mumbai, is India's only surviving opera house.
An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.
Anupama Chopra (née Chandra) is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Companion, which offered a curated look at cinema with an emphasis on Indian film. She has written several books on Indian cinema and has been a film critic for NDTV and India Today, as well as the Hindustan Times. She also hosted a weekly film review show, The Front Row With Anupama Chopra, on Star World. She won the 2000 National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema for her first book Sholay: The Making of a Classic. Chopra joined the Indian iteration of the film journalism outlet The Hollywood Reporter in 2024, launched domestically in the same year by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
The architecture of Mumbai blends Gothic, Victorian, Art Deco, Indo-Saracenic & Contemporary architectural styles. Many buildings, structures and historical monuments remain from the colonial era. Mumbai, after Miami, has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world.
Kiran Rao is an Indian film producer, screenwriter, and director who works in Hindi cinema. In 2016, Rao co-founded Paani Foundation, a non-profit organisation working towards the mission of fighting drought in Maharashtra. She is the board member of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.
Natarang, also spelled Natrang, is a 2010 Indian Marathi-language drama film directed by debutant Ravi Jadhav and starring Atul Kulkarni and Sonalee Kulkarni. Composer duo Ajay–Atul composed the original score and songs of the film.
Aberdeen has been the host of several theatres and concert halls through history. Some of them have been converted or destroyed over the years.
Amit Khanna is an Indian film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He was the founder chairman of Reliance Entertainment, former president of the Producers Guild of India, and the founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image. He is credited with having coined the term Bollywood. Khanna has also won three National Film Awards as a producer and lyricist.
Waman P. Bhonsle was an Indian film editor, who worked in Hindi cinema from 1960s to 1990s.
New Empire was a cinema hall in South Mumbai located in close proximity to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. It closed down on 21 March 2014 after being in existence for over a century due to persistent losses suffered by the owners.
The Regal Theatre also known as the Regal Cinema was a single screen cinema hall and theatre situated in Connaught Place in New Delhi, India.
Film Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Mumbai, India, dedicated to film preservation, restoration and archiving of India’s film heritage.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur is an Indian filmmaker, producer, film archivist and restorer. He is best known for his films Celluloid Man, The Immortals and CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel. He has also directed several award-winning commercials and public service campaigns under the banner of Dungarpur Films.
Media related to Regal Cinema (Mumbai) at Wikimedia Commons