Mumbai’s star is in the ascendant as it bridges the gap between past and present, commercial investment and creativity NEW HORIZONS Photography Devashish Gaur Writer Cr istina k ir a n piotti This page, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre’s 2,000-seater Grand Theatre features a special programmable lighting system enhanced by 8,400 Swarovski crystals Opposite, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link reduces travel time across the city, opening up new opportunities The Trip 146 ∑ I t’s an iconic blend of the avant-garde and tradition that has defined Mumbai since its inception, when Bombay (as it was previously known) literally meant ‘good bay’ and occupied seven islands. In less than 500 years, it has blossomed from a fishing village into a sprawling metropolis squeezed onto a narrow strip of land in the Arabian Sea. In the last 30 years, Mumbai’s population has increased by eight million to 21 million, with an additional seven million expected by 2035. What sets Mumbai apart from other Indian cities is that, unlike Kolkata or Delhi, which were political capitals, Mumbai has always been a financial and trade centre. ‘This means that, right from its inception, entrepreneurs and philanthropists from different communities, like David Sassoon, Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and Cowasji Jehangir, contributed to its landmarks building,’ says conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, referring to symbolic buildings like the Flora Fountain, Sir JJ School of Art and Jehangir Art Gallery. ‘In a similar way today, large corporations that have grown with this city, contribute to its development and conservation with art and cultural spaces.’ Envisioned by philanthropist Nita Mukesh Ambani, the new Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) – located in Bandra at the edge of the city suburbs, within the Jio World Centre – is a case in point. Home to three auditoriums and a four-storey arts space, the centre is a huge boost to visual and performing arts in India. Says Lambah, ‘The Ambani space is extremely important because, while many cultural spaces, such as the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Royal Opera House, are located in south Mumbai, with the population moving to the suburbs, it is only fair that they get some new cultural spaces.’ The NMACC’s cultural offering aims to establish a point of excellence on the national, if not global, stage. Its ‘India in Fashion’ exhibition (showing until 4 June), curated by Hamish Bowles, highlights how India has influenced fashion and style from the 18th century to the present day, juxtaposing great pieces by Indian designers like Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Tarun Tahiliani with creations by global fashion houses, such as Chanel, Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli and Yves Saint Laurent. Its four-storey arts space launched with an exhibition co-curated by Indian cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote and Jeffrey Deitch. ‘Sangam/Confluence’ (also showing until 4 June) showcases the work of major Indian artists such as Bharti Kher and Bhupen Khakhar alongside Western counterparts that took artistic inspiration from India, such as Anselm Kiefer and Francesco Clemente. ‘Public art has the power to unify, and this is true even for people who are not profoundly impacted by art,’ says Ambani, » Left, a vendor at the Dadar Flower Market Opposite, an exterior shot of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, part of the Jio World mixed-use development centre in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex The Trip 149 ∑ The Trip who is a trained Indian classical dancer. ‘When you are subconsciously consuming art, it enables appreciation in an unimposing way. We have seen this happening with the public art we’ve put up at the Jio World Centre. People stand in front of it, take selfies, discuss it. There is interest that is generated individually, yet at the same time it can connect families and communities.’ Also connecting communities is the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, which opened in 2009. This bridge unifies the creek that separates north and south Mumbai, at night creating a spectacular trail of lights that spreads across the dark sea. Two further iniatives aim to improve connections for those on the move – updates to the metro and the Coastal Road project. The latter, the most expensive civil work undertaken in Mumbai in 135 years, will skirt the western seaboard from Marine Lines to Worli, home to the Koli fishing community. ‘The Coastal Road is definitely going to change the way we look at the city today,’ says architect and designer Ashiesh Shah. ‘Not only will it revive Bandra, the northern part of the city, but also Colaba and the south. Bandra is growing as a new cultural hub, as this is where the young talent is located. Colaba is populated by families and a slightly older generation. The road is going to help both, making them able to commute.’ Shah’s ability to consider the contemporary without losing the essence of the past is evidenced by his most recent project, fine-dining restaurant Neuma, housed in a restored colonial bungalow behind the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Colaba. With its minimal aesthetic infused with craft pieces and delicate collectibles, Neuma carries the legacy of its previous occupant, Indigo, designed by Studio Mumbai founder Bijoy Jain. ‘It was a crucial component of Bombay history, possibly the city’s first standalone restaurant,’ says Shah. Before Indigo, fine dining was mostly offered in the city’s five-star hotels. ‘I had to respect what Jain had done before me: it meant stepping into really tough shoes.’ Shah, who opened his atelier in 2017, condensed his passion for Indian craft into creating Neuma’s identity: the black-and-white floor is from » 150 ∑ Right and opposite, the view across the water from the Koliwada (which means fishing community settlement) at Worli, one of Mumbai’s seven original islands and home to the Koli community. Some of the houses here were built in the Portugese style The Trip 152 ∑ This page, above and left, gallery Æquō introduces global designers to Indian craftsmanship, showing work by the likes of Florence Louisy and Cédric Courtin Opposite, black-and- white floor tiles and moulded panels in the indoor courtyard at fine-dining restaurant Neuma, designed by Ashiesh Shah the 100-year-old Bharat Floorings, and the same pattern can be spotted at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (originally known as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India). This is complemented by detailed moulding panels, while the miniature figures displayed in the white-hued Danish-inspired dining room Blanc are from the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (originally known as the Victoria and Albert Museum Bombay): ‘India is experiencing a renaissance in craftsmanship, and Mumbai is leading the way,’ says Shah. This is particularly true for gallery Æquō, which opened in Mumbai last year with the self-proclaimed mission of bringing the best in contemporary collectible design to the region. Located in Devidas Mansion, a heritage apartment block just a short stroll from Neuma, and designed by Paris- and Mumbai-based architect Ivan Oddos, the sparse, monastic space features two embedded central teak columns and a set of double glass doors that lead to a covered outdoor space. Founded by Indian creative and entrepreneur Tarini Jindal Handa, the gallery attempts to revisit Indian heritage by inviting global contemporary designers to work locally, introducing them to an extensive network of artisans and makers. These include Cédric Courtin, whose leather craftsmanship was, for a long time, a closely- guarded fashion industry secret. Based in Auroville, in Tamil Nadu, he chose to wrap a set of traditional Indian vessels in swaths of leather using various weaving finishes and techniques, resulting in a collection of truly conceptual and unexpected forms. As you leave the tranquil silence of Æquō, you are met with street vendors, honking yellow and black Padmini taxis, and street food stalls with intense aromas: everyday life condenses in this stretch of road that leads to the city’s two main symbols, entrepreneurial and colonial, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and the Gateway of India. This is where Dior hosted its catwalk show in March to display its Pre-Fall 2023 collection. India is not a major market for Western luxury brands, even if it is rapidly expanding, but what drew Dior to India was creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s long history with Chanakya, a local atelier specialising in hand embroidery. Thanks to the Chanakya school, which opened in 2017, women, who are traditionally kept away from Indian embroidery, learn some of the most impressive crafts, such as zardozi (which translates as ‘sewing with gold string’). After graduating, many of them keep working for the Chanakya atelier, while some start their own independent businesses. Not only did the Chanakya atelier contribute to the Dior show’s dramatic set, covering the Gateway in a monumental work inspired by a traditional decorative fabric door hanging, but it also created the hand embroidery that adorned the richly embellished collection. » 155 ∑ The Trip Newspaper The Trip The Trip This page and opposite, held against the ornate backdrop of Mumbai’s Gateway of India, Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Pre-Fall 2023 show for Dior featured a collection adorned with embroidery by local atelier Chanakya The Trip The Trip Above and right, artisans at work embroidering in the Chanakya atelier Opposite, following an initiative by the St+art India Foundation, the Sassoon Docks were transformed into a giant art gallery with installations and murals that pay homage to the local communities 156 ∑ ‘Dior’s show was a spectacular event, honouring the efforts, beauty and richness of Indian artisans’ work,’ says renowned Indian fashion designer James Ferreira, the man behind the revitalisation of heritage village Khotachiwadi. Once doomed to oblivion and slow decay, the district is now the subject of such obsession that half of the houses display signs offering stern warnings: ‘No photos’. It’s easy to see why. Follow a tiny bylane with a blue street sign off a busy urban road and, without warning, it whisks you away down cobbled streets into a tiny universe of Portuguese villas in bright colours with large porches, ornamental doorways and balustrades in contrasting hues. Ferreira’s 200-year-old, two-storey house is painted cream and dark brown. His atelier, on the first floor, showcases stupendous lungis, traditional kurtas, draped tunics and saris. The ground floor, now a bed and breakfast, transports you back to the early days of the East Indian Christian community that gave birth to these quaint lanes, dotted as it is with decorated wooden shelves, votive statuettes, ceramic teapots, antique laces and croquet curtains intertwined with cards and photographs. ‘As a child, I would get up at 4am to go treasure hunting in Chor Bazaar [one of the largest flea markets in India, it literally translates to ‘thieves market’],’ says Ferreira, who has spent 20 years promoting Khotachiwadi. Part of his success can be attributed to the recent opening in the district of Gallery 47-A by lifestyle store Baro Market and Colaba-based gallery Chatterjee & Lal. ‘We’ve been visiting the area for many years and had always thought it lent itself to a space for design thinking,’ says gallery co-founder Tara Lal. Set on a lane just wide enough for a rickshaw and a coconut vendor cart, Gallery 47-A is a sober bungalow in blue and yellow, nestled among the tiled roofs and two-storey villas in their ochres, reds, greys, purples and greens. ‘The bungalow in which 47-A is located has been owned by the same family for more than a century. This kind of continuity is unusual in a metropolis and so we feel very fortunate to have found a home here,’ says fellow gallery co-founder Mortimer Chatterjee. ‘At the same time, we are aware that many of the historic buildings are at risk from demolition at the hands of builders and other commercial interests.’ Their hopes, he adds, is that the city’s creative community can join hands with the local residents to make productive use of the existing bungalows in such a way that there is no economic necessity for present owners to sell out to forces intent on erasing existing built structures in favour of new high rises. Architect Abha Narain Lambah cherishes this concept. ‘Given the nature of the city, it is not only fair but really important for people to help with recycling, reusing and conserving the city’s structures, because this is what keeps heritage buildings and historic neighbourhoods relevant,’ says Lambah, » The Trip who is currently working on the restoration of the David Sassoon Library and Reading Room, focusing on returning its teak tables and yellowish stones back to its neo-Gothic glory. The library is in Kala Ghoda, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Colaba named after a black (kala) horse (ghoda) statue with Edward VII dressed in military attire astride it. Gifted to the city by philantropist Albert Sassoon, the statue stood in the square opposite the library, but was relocated in the 1960s when its imperial connotations were deemed insensitive. For years, no horse stood there, but in 2017, a new black horse sculpture (minus a rider) was commissioned, designed by architect Alfaz Miller and sculpted by Shreehari Bhosle. Lambah’s invisible signature can be traced on some of the most prominent local buildings, including the Asiatic Society Town Hall and Library and the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue. She began working in 1995 when Mumbai was the first Indian city to establish heritage regulations. While the rest of the country was regulated by the Archaeological Act and its monuments-centric approach ∑ to conservation, she says Mumbai chose to challenge the paradigms that buildings needed to be at least 100 years old to be protected, at a time when the likes of the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel were younger than that. The new rules went on to expand the idea of conservation to include neighbourhoods. Lambah also prepared the extensive dossier that resulted in the city’s Victorian Gothic and art deco architectural styles being added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 2018. The Victorian Gothic style includes Indian elements suited to the climate, such as balconies and verandas, as evidenced in the David Sassoon Library or the much- Instagrammed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station (formerly Victoria Terminus). The art deco buildings merge Indian design with art deco imagery, resulting in a distinct style known as Indo-Deco, examples of which can be seen at the Regal Cinema, the ultimate destination for Bollywood fans, and the New India Assurance building in Fort, as well as on Marine Drive and in neighbourhoods such as Colaba, Churchgate and Dadar. » Indian fashion designer James Ferreira, opposite, has been at the forefront of preserving heritage village Khotachiwadi, one of Mumbai’s oldest districts, where he lives in a historic two-storey house (part of which is available to rent) with a pretty courtyard garden, left The Trip 159 ∑ The Trip The desire of local associations and cultural platforms to involve citizens in conservation and preservation issues is as striking as the massive response to the open-air public art events (which take place at the beginning of the year to avoid monsoon time). Over the years, the nine-day Kala Ghoda festival – India’s largest multicultural festival, held annually in February – has made financial contributions to the neighbourhood’s revitalisation, while in 2017, the biennial Mumbai Urban Art Festival, organised by the St+art India Foundation, transformed the 142-year-old Sassoon Docks (Mumbai’s first wet docks) with installations and murals that pay homage to the Koli community that live and work here. ‘Putting new energy into public art and celebrating it equally is critical for neighbourhoods that risk losing their identity,’ says Lambah. ‘But it’s not uncommon: we have rangoli, temple art, and religious festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi that completely transform the city. Art is an integral part of Mumbai daily life.’ Old thieves’ markets and avant-garde dining establishments, fishing villages and hyper-modern art platforms, revitalised neighbourhoods and new infrastructure – this is, after all, how Mumbai has held on to its history while arduously racing forward. ∂ Above, Mumbai-based conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah at the David Sassoon Library, which she is currently restoring 160 ∑