Novelty Cinema: A Mumbai icon to be razed

Like scores of other single-screens in Mumbai, and so many more elsewhere in the country, Novelty Cinema succumbed to the multiplex wave.

MUMBAI: It’s curtains for Novelty Chambers, a landmark that housed one of South Mumbai’s much-loved single screens – Novelty Cinema. While the projectors here stopped rolling 19 years ago, the last occupants of Novelty Chambers have been told to vacate.

Novelty Cinema: A Mumbai icon to be razed

The now-defunct cinema hall at Grant Road is on the ground floor of the building, while the top nine storeys housed office premises. Only one of the premises is currently occupied.

A notice has been served by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Novelty Chambers, saying the building is dilapidated and dangerous for habitation, and must be vacated immediately. In its notice, served under Section 354 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, the civic body states that it will be proceeding with demolition in the next few weeks. The property is owned by Bhawar Jain. Sources said Novelty Chambers is likely to make way for a residential high rise.

Like scores of other single-screens in Mumbai, and so many more elsewhere in the country, Novelty Cinema succumbed to the multiplex wave. Almost 80 years of entertainment wound to a halt in 2006, when the Om Puri-Paresh Rawal starrer Malamaal Weekly was screened here, said a shopkeeper next door.

Novelty was one of the most prominent cinema halls at Grant Road, once an entertainment hub for Hindi cinema. Other single-screens in South Mumbai that have faded into history are Minerva, Super, Apsara, Shalimar, Alankar, Moti, Capitol, Liberty, New Empire, Central, Majestic, among others. Those that have survived are Nishant, Maratha Mandir and Regal, while those that transitioned to the multiplex format include Sterling, Metro, Roxy, New Excelsior and Eros.

Novelty opened in the late 1920s, when Grant Road was a bustling centre of entertainment. The single-screen had its heyday, when big-ticket Bollywood movies would premiere here. “It was a great theatre and had its super-hit films. It was one of the prominent in South Mumbai,” recalled trade analyst Amod Mehra.

In 2006, Novelty was poised for a grand comeback, with plans to transform it into a multiplex under Big Cinemas. But the script was left unfinished. With no revival in sight, the curtain fell for good. In a few weeks, all that will remain is a fading reel of golden memories.