The Men and Women of Bandra

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Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. Photo: Publicity Photo

With the focus as of now being on Bandra, Mumbai’s “Queen of Suburbs” where Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan were targeted, it is perhaps the right occasion to examine the past and present denizens of the area, as far as cinema is concerned.

Past Glories

Dilip Kumar built his bungalow here, on Pali Hill, considered the cream of even this suburb, a location where it is said that before Independence, the Britishers never even allowed Indians to enter apart from Parsis and menial workers! After marrying Saira Banu, daughter to actress Naseem Banu, he shifted inside the lane to their residence.

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Sunil Dutt lived at the end of this lane, and that building is now redeveloped as a multi-storied apartment block where Sanjay Dutt still resides.

Mehboob Studios is a major landmark in Bandra. Photo: Publicity Photo

A couple of kilometers away, an institution named Mehboob Studios has now become a prime landmark, a popular venue for shootings as well as other events, and built by Mehboob Khan, whose filmmaking innings spanned from the 1930s to 1960s. The complex had also once housed the Mehboob Recording Center, one of the most advanced (and live) song-recording venues where its legendary and much-emulated ‘bigness’ of sound came from the fact that all the music was taped on 35mm movie spools!

Dev Anand, a Juhu resident, build his Anand Recording Center, a complete post-production outfit, on Pali Hill that also doubled as his office. His brother, filmmaker Vijay Anand, resided on the fringes of Pali Hill and had his studio a stone’s throw away in Khar.

Madhur Dhwani, a small recording studio, was built where the late Madhubala used to reside. Like Ruma, Yogeeta Bali and Leena Chandavarkar, the actress shared this suburb as home and we link them only because they were all successively married to Kishore Kumar, who once termed his four wives ‘bandar-iyas’ (female monkeys, with a pun on Bandra!) after this common point!

Legendary composer Pyarelal stays in Bandra a stone’s throw from Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s favorite recording venue, Mehboob Recording Centre. Photo: Publicity Photo

Speaking of singers, Mohammed Rafi and Talat Mahmood also stayed here, and Rafi Mansion, the former’s residence, is still a landmark. Mahendra Kapoor came to reside here after a sojourn downtown. Composers Naushad (in his sea-facing bungalow on Carter Road promenade) and (Laxmikant-)Pyarelal (on the way up the other Bandra hill, Mount Mary Hill) also are Bandra denizens. Ravindra Jain also stayed here.

And speaking of music, the list would be grossly incomplete without mentioning the multiple lyricists who made Bandra their home: 1930s and 1940s icon Dinanath (D.N.) Madhok, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakeel Badayuni, Anand Bakshi, Indeevar, Gulshan Bawra and now, Gulzar and Prasoon Joshi, current Censor Chief as well. Clearly, these talents’ talent flowered well in the locale. As did those of singers Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurthi and Shailendra Singh before they shifted to other suburbs and Shabbir Kumar.

Helen, who has mesmerized Hindi film buffs from the 1950s, lives less than a kilometer away from Salim Khan’s residence. Photo: Publicity Photo

Actress Sadhana also lived here for a while, and Nanda had built her bungalow here. Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Helen, Prem Chopra and veteran comic Jagdeep were all Bandra ‘boys and girls’ and so was Rajendra Kumar, whose Dimple Studios and residence, Dimple (which was on Carter Road again) remain other landmarks even now. The sea-facing “Dimple” was next purchased by Rajesh Khanna, who lived here until he passed away, and had renamed it “Aashirvad”. One-time big-name Bharat Bhushan also owned a bungalow in a prime area just off the arterial Linking Road.

Jeetendra also shifted here, with brother producer Prasanna Kapoor, before shifting to the mansion he has built in Juhu-Vile Parle Development Scheme. Sanjeev Kumar stayed in a humble apartment at the northern foot of Pali Hill, quite near where filmmaker Kamal Amrohi stayed with Meena Kumari. Rishi Kapoor was the first Kapoor to move out of his home precinct in far-off Chembur, and move into his bungalow, Krishna-Raj, named after his parents, on Pali Hill, along with wife Neetu Singh, a long-time Bandra-ite. For a long while, Mithun Chakraborty too was a Bandra-ite, a stone’s throw from Rafi’s home, and so did Moushumi Chatterjee, Anil Dhawan and the late Vinod Mehra and Navin Nischol, each a big name in the 1970s.

Eminent filmmakers who made this area their home were Nasir Husain, that master entertainer who made films like Yaadon Ki Baraat, Raj Khosla (Woh Kaun Thi?, Mera Gaon Mera Desh) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the timeless creator of movies like Chupke Chupke. Even Bimal Roy (Bandini) stayed here.

John Abraham. Photo: Publicity Photo

The present biggies

Ranbir Kapoor obviously has been another Bandra-born guy, and is now settled here a stone’s throw from his father’s old bungalow (now developed into a multi-story building) with wife Alia Bhatt. His cousin Karisma Kapoor with mother Babita are also residing here. Kareena Kapoor Khan, of course, is Saif’s wife.

All the big-name Khans and their clan stay here—Aamir Khan, son Junaid Khan, his ex-wife Kiran Rao, nephew Imran Khan, Salman Khan and his ‘Khan’daan comprising legendary writer Salim Khan, brothers Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan with wife Gauri and daughter Suhana Khan.

Jackie Shroff and Tiger Shroff, John Abraham, Arjun Rampal, Dino Morea, Emraan Hashmi, his cousin director Mohit Suri, Sidharth Malhotra (and Kiara Advani), Urmila Matondkar, Katrina Kaif, Janhvi Kapoor, Chunky Pandey and daughter Ananya Panday also join the populous Bandra brigade. Farhan Akhtar also hails from here.

A prominent name among filmmakers is Subhash Ghai, who stays near the Mount Mary Church. TV czar Prem Krishen Malhotra, son of veterans Premnath and Bina Rai, and his director (Hichki, Maharaj) son, Siddharth P. Malhotra also stay in this suburb.

VFX (Visual Effects) play a large role in the current Hindi film scenario, and two prime names in this department, Rajtaru Studios and Climb Media, are a part of Bandra. Purple Haze, where Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy record most of their music, is also here. Vishal-Shekhar stay and work here as well.

The G-7 multiplex is the pride of cinemas in Bandra. Photo: Publicity Photo

Cinemagoers’ Paradise

The area was best known once for three movie halls—the vintage Bandra Talkies on Linking Road, New Talkies on Hill Road, and Neptune Cinema opposite the Bandra Railway Station. However, all three were demolished to make way for shopping complexes, though in the place of New Talkies came Globus, a multiplex-like cinema that changed hands thrice and is now PVR property (PVR-Inox is the largest multiplex chain in India) and is known as PVR La Reve. The place where Bandra Talkies was housed now has Movietime Suburbia.

But Bandra’s pride remains G-7, the latest name for Gaiety, Galaxy and Gemini theatres, each essentially a single-screen that has seen endless cinematic glories since the 1970s. Adding premium former preview cinemas Glamour and Gem (with the preview theatre Grace still on) to the public and opening Gossip, a new hall all in the same premises, the complex now has to follow ‘multiplex regulations’ and yet is the most affordable and popular movie-watching venue in the locality.

Whether for residing, working (there are innumerable film offices here), shooting or (for the public) purely watching films, Bandra remains an eternal favorite.