Intermission filled with nostalgia

Two years ago, one of the oldest single screen cinema halls of Mumbai that was established as Novelty in 1887, rebuilt as Excelsior in 1909, and later renamed as New Excelsior in the '70s, earned a new lease of life as Mukta A2 Excelsior. Across the road, an old building housing one of the departments of Siddharth College was recently redeveloped, too (thankfully, retaining the architectural sensibilities of the area). What's not changed, however, is a 100-year-old establishment in the middle of these two landmarks, Cafe Excelsior.

Ardeshir Mazkoori

Multiple old wooden clocks tick on the bare walls and handpainted signs announce the Parsi specialties available on the menu. Ardeshir Mazkoori, the third generation owner who was named after the café's founder, his grandfather, has painted these frames. "My grandfather, passed away when I was born, hence I was named after him. He was a hard-working man. When he came to India from Iran, he first worked at another Irani restaurant in the area. After raising funds, he started Café Excelsior with his brother in 1919. Originally it was just one-third the size of this place. In fact, they would serve meals in the compound of Excelsior Cinema to make up for the lack of space," recalls Mazkoori. His father, Gustasb Mazkoori, ran the place for almost 60 years, and Mazkoori took over in 1996 after his death.

Nityanand Karkera

"I have fond memories of coming to the café as a child. We used to eat ice cream, or whatever else we could hog on. It felt nice to come to your own café; I would run all around the place. Nostalgia brings back old customers. That's why I have tried to retain it as much; I think thrice even before painting the place as people who have moved overseas come back to relive their time. Many families come to the café, where fathers show their kids the tables where they proposed to their mothers," shares Mazkoori.

Kheema Pav

The only thing that has changed, or rather expanded over the years is the menu. Mazkoori felt it necessary to keep the place running. So, apart from Parsi dishes such as salli boti, cutlets, patra ni machchi, they also serve Chinese and Lebanese dishes. The head cook though has been the same for 40 years (his father used to head the kitchen before him). Like the cook, the manager, Nityanand Karkera, a friend of Mazkoori from Bharda High School, has been working at Excelsior for a long time, too.

Although Mazkoori studied commercial art at Sir JJ School of Art, and had even set up his own ad agency, his heart lay in the café, and so he chose to continue his father's legacy. "Uddhav Thackeray would come here often to eat kheema during his college days; he was my junior at JJ," recalls Mazkoori. The café is a big pull for movie stars who come for their premiers; many of them have become friends with Mazkoori.

"Irrfan Khan was here once, and Riteish Deshmukh and Vivek Oberoi would invite me to their vanity vans to discuss our food; while Shah Rukh Khan stopped by for a chicken roll during the release of Chennai Express. Sanjay Dutt would come here often when he would visit the CBI office. Comedian Mehmood and his brother were regulars, too. We are lucky to be next to one of the most magnificent cinema halls of Asia," says Mazkoori. The most recent film to have been shot here was A Gentleman starring Sidharth Malhotra. Singer Himesh Reshammiya spent a whole day at the café, too. "Because of our proximity to Azad Maidan, many top-class cricketers eat here as well. Some names include Sandeep Patil and his father Madhusudan. Sandeep likes our cutlets and mutton masala. Politicians like Jitendra Awhad, Ashish Shelar and Jaya Jaitly, writer Anil Dharker, as well as artist MF Husain who had a fixed table to sit at, would drop by," adds Karkera.

They say it's not easy to escape the glitz of Bollywood and Mazkoori had an unfortunate dealing with it as well. "Around 1982-83, I jointly launched a film called Majma starring Mithun Chakraborty and Jaya Prada. We had a big mahurat party but sadly, we couldn't complete the film and I lost a lot of money. It's in the past though; I still have many friends in the industry. What I love the most though is the love I receive from our patrons. That is what keeps me motivated to keep the café running. My only child, our daughter Venee, is a foodie like me. She takes a keen interest in the café, but I am not sure if she will join it after she gets married," Mazkoori signs off. On April 19, 20 and 21, Mazkoori will offer a 50 per cent discount as a celebration of the centenary.

Anand Balraj, Gulshan Grover and Subhash Ghai at the café after the repremiere of the 1991 release, Saudagar. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Of filmy buffs and chicken rolls

Back in the day, Café Excelsior had a booth system on its mezzanine floor that was famous with couples as it gave them privacy. But this was changed after Adi (as Ardeshir is known among his friends) joined the café. People would also pick chicken rolls and mutton sandwiches to enjoy during their film outings at Excelsior when outside food was allowed in cinema halls. DN Road was always an office area, so the café attracted office goers who liked to eat with forks and spoons, before the dabba system was introduced. No Indian films were ever screened at the old Excelsior that shut down in 1969. It would have posters for films that would be screened two years later, as it took that long to get films to India back then. The café depended a lot on the crowd coming to the theatre.

Deepak Rao, historian

Time: 8 am to 11 pm
At: 23, AK Nayak Marg, opposite New Excelsior Cinema, Azad Maidan, Fort.
Call: 22001299

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