05 November,2024 07:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
Bandstand at Bandra. Pic/Satej Shinde
Post Ram Gopal Varma's Satya (1998) - if there's any film that truly inspired/spawned a full sub-genre surveying Mumbai's gritty crime scene, from the street/eye-level, it has to be Fernando Meirelles's City of God (2002), set in Rio De Janeiro.
The first time Meirelles visited Mumbai (in 2019), hence, I asked how he felt Rio compared to the proverbial âcity of dreams'.
He cutely, accurately observed, "Mumbai doesn't feel like a city, by the sea. Unlike Rio. I don't know why - the sea is in Mumbai's backyard?"
Like, say, Dadar, Mahim, Juhu, Versova⦠Where, even as there's sea, it does feel like somewhere in the back.
Unlike, say, Marine Drive (iconic), Worli (quieter), or Bandra's Carter Road (cacophonous, courtesy, adjacent âkhau gali') - where Mumbai more directly stares straight into the Arabian Sea.
Of such water-fronts, I consider Bandra's kilometre and half, Bandstand promenade, reputably the coolest.
Technically, it stretches between St Andrew's Church, and Bandra Fort. The former (since 1575) is over half a century older than Agra's Taj Mahal (1631) - the latter (1640), only a decade younger!
Tourists/janta might identity Bandstand the most, though, with two Bollywood homes. At one end, Galaxy Apartments, of Salman Khan's family; and Shah Rukh Khan/SRK's Mannat, at the other.
Only apt that the address, nationally best known for two superstars - prone to go shirtless onscreen, exhibiting moments of homo-erotica - is officially named, BJ Road!
BJ = Byramjee Jeejeebhoy (1822-1890), educationist-philanthropist. By reported accounts, BJ built BJ Road - where military bands would once stand, entertaining passersby - and gifted it to Bombay.
Crowds often gather on Bandstand as much for the sea as the possibility of the two Bollywood entertainers, Salman and SRK, emerging like waves from their homes. I've witnessed remnants of a mini-stampede outside Salman's.
His father Salim Khan bought that place in the 1970s, and chose it as his forever home. Salim's screenwriting partner, Javed Akhtar, apparently, helped him with the purchase.
Javed, similarly, bought a bungalow, a walk down, on Bandstand. It's Bungalow No 1, Sea Springs, where his filmmaker kids, Farhan, Zoya, grew up.
A hop-skip away, polymath Farhan bought his own bungalow, Vipassana. Bungalow 1, Sea Springs, shares wall with Bungalow No 2, of course. That's the icon Rekha's.
She owns an office on Sea Bird building (towards Galaxy). You can spot young star, Ishaan Khatter (Shahid Kapoor's half-brother), hang here. He lives around.
Many have confused the huge Bandstand bungalow, Basera, to be Rekha's. It belongs to a real-estate magnate.
Likewise, the most majestic Bandstand mansion, Rockdale, is owned by a family that makes pharmaceutical capsule-shells. It's next to Sea Glimpse, with actor John Abraham's penthouse.
Just saying: real money in real business; no? Showbiz, though, is the better show.
And you'd wanna be on Bandstand. Even if your building isn't on it.
Such as Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone's newly acquired penthouse, that's behind BJ Road (technically, behind HK Bhabha Road). But with a tiny approach-gate, Nagpal Developers, announcing their arrival, neighbouring SRK's Mannat.
Mannat became a city landmark, shortly after the super-star bought it in 2001. The tourist traffic, I suspect, seriously picked up a decade later. Prakash, a security-man at Mannat, once told me, they have to rotate guards, every two hours! It's a stressful job.
Mannat used to be Villa Vienna once. SRK fans know the exact moment (2:08) in the (5:12) song, Chand taare, from Aziz Mirza's Yes Boss (1997), when SRK sings right outside the Bandstand place, that would become his sea-facing Bollywood bungalow.
The song is all about dreams and life's lofty ambitions, including King Khan wearing a fake crown in it.
My favourite Bandstand moment is bumping into the genial director Aziz Mirza, 77, as he sits outside his building (Sea Breeze), after a walk - always so huggable, warm, with a conversation. He's partially visually impaired.
He's on Bullock Road that ascends from opposite Café Sea Side on Bandstand. Which remains life's deepest mystery to me!
The minimum-40-seater Café Sea Side, around since forever, wholly overlooks the sea, with two storeys above it. Walk in. Anytime. It's dead. Deliberately so.
The servers, if any, will barely look in your direction, let alone offer table, or menu, if any. I don't know a better-located café/restaurant in Bombay. And it's been like this since forever as well!
Similarly, nothing's still replaced Hotel Sea Rock, up ahead, opposite Taj Land's End, either. Sea Rock, being among the hottest spots in town, once; torn down, when it perhaps never quite recovered from the 1993 blasts.
There are two tiny cafes on Bandstand - if you discount the gorgeous Grounded, on the street above.
This entire area, already packed, becomes a crowded stadium, annually, on SRK's birthday, i.e. November 2 - among other special days, when the superstar waves at fans from Mannat's parapet.
Not Nov 2, 2024! The police had evidently banned public on Bandstand. There was âsannaata' for a Saturday. On April 14, two men on motorbikes randomly fired shots at Salman's Galaxy.
On Oct 12, Salman and SRK's friend, former Bandra MLA, Baba Siddique, got gunned down. It felt like the return of the spectre of underworld in Bombay! The effect could be felt on Mannat. Felt bad for Bandstand.
By the way, you know what's the building next to Mannat? Berket. Love it!
Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14
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