The Hindu Business Line : Retro Metro

Mumbai's Metro Cinema was my alma mater in film education, mostly on Hollywood. It all began in the early 1950s when, as a schoolboy, I attended a weeklong festival of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) films and fell in love with Hollywood. The films included All The Brothers Were Valiant, Julius Caesar, Beau Brummell, King Solomon's Mines, Mogambo and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The association continued and whenever I passed through Bombay (now Mumbai), I made time to watch English films in Metro. They were great films — An American In Paris, Singin' In The Rain, Bathing Beauty, Ben Hur and so on.

Metro was something special... it had history, prestige and was patronised by lovers of English films. Completed in 1938, it was owned by MGM and the first film to be screened was Broadway Melody.

A brochure released on the occasion referred to the spacious and beautiful lounges, artistic murals, glittering chandeliers, rich drapery and Italian marble flooring. The original art décor was done by Lamb & Ditchburn, experts in the field. Everyone talked about the grand mirrored staircase and the majesty of the five huge Belgium-made chandeliers.

If the films were classy, so was the audience at Metro. The ushers wore suits and the soda fountain provided excellent ice-cream, samosas and other snacks. Leo the Lion, the MGM symbol, became popular mainly through Metro cinema. Hollywood classics were shown at ridiculously cheap rates on Sunday mornings. Watch a Metro film, have a snack at one of the Irani restaurants in the neighbourhood, and your day was made.

Hollywood celebrities like Gregory Peck never missed Metro during their Bombay visit. Our own Shashi Kapoor and other stars were regulars.

In 1970, MGM sold Metro to the Gupta family — whose main business was mining, and with Indianisation came the era of screening Hindi films and flashy, glittering, star-studded premieres. Raj Kapoor's Bobby set the trend and when RK released Satyam Shivam Sundaram in typical monsoon fury, the guests were delighted when the young Kapoor brothers — Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev — opened their car doors, held umbrellas over their heads and led them inside.

The King of Romance, Yash Chopra, went one better. For the premiere of Chandni, he created a Punjabi wedding scene in the foyer with stalls selling chudi (bangles), mehndi counters or parandewalis going around decorating the hair of patrons. When showman Subhash Ghai premiered his Khalnayak, the Metro foyer was made to resemble a prison. The star presence was so huge that riot police had to be called in, but with instructions to handle the situation carefully.

Ever ready to oblige its exhibitors, Metro arranged, overnight, a complete overhaul of its sound system when star producer Dharmendra insisted on a special digital sound system for the premiere of his home production Barsaat.

The multiplex invasion

Despite such achievements, Metro could not stand up to the multiplex invasion, it was becoming difficult to fill up the 1,491 seats and the management was forced to screen four different films every day. Atul and Akshat Gupta closed down the theatre 17 months ago for a massive renovation. The day-to-day functioning of Metro was handed over to Manmohan Shetty's Adlabs Films and it was a labour of love for the 28-year-old Pooja Shetty.

"The need was for a better-quality cinema experience," explains Pooja. "The changes we planned would not affect the old-world charm of Metro." The renovated Metro Adlabs, which opened with Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, retains its festive, well-lit look, plus many of the old features like the grand mirrored staircase. It took six months to take down and re-fix the chandeliers.

Metro Adlabs now has six screens, which are among the largest multiplex screens in Mumbai. Other highlights are the specially designed seats and an ebony lounge with 30 reclining seats, small dining tables and hi-tech restrooms with LCDs showing trailers and movie trivia.

Typically, Metro has its old and familiar look with new comforts and conveniences. Mumbai glitterati was obviously thrilled and thronged the first major function at Metro Adlabs — the launch of photographer Sheena Sippy's book, Lights, Camera, Masala — Making Movies In Mumbai.

"It was the grandest cinema of my younger days," said Abhishek Bachchan. "I experienced goose pimples whenever I approached the entrance."

Greeting people at the Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna premiere, Karan Johar exclaimed, "What a dream theatre!"