The Mumbai I knew - part 4

The Mumbai I knew- 4​

Phenox Mills, where Pantaloons,and other malls are there at Lower Parel was once a jinxed mill.And in the mid seventies, it caught fire,and i could see it from the skyscaper where we lived,and i heard a good amount was collected from the Insurance.Today it is the happening place of mumbai.


Lower Parel,we have our export unit there since the late sixties,and i used to come to office in the holidays.We used to be ashamed to tell people our office is at Lower Parel,calling it Upper Parel,or better still upper Worli.And Worli too was like middle class locality,as it was associated with BDD Chawls,Worli Naka,Poddar Hospital,all lousy names in the early Seventies.Today well,everyone loves the name Lower Parel.All the top corporates have movied in,and even Reliance have bought the Siyaram Mills for their Telecom staff.And Piramals next door to us, have opened a swanky hospital and very reasobnable prices.If any of u have any Dentist Work,please go there,and they have a pretty lady dentist too.Ive been there.All AC,and excellent and value for money,Swear.

Glaxo is very close to Worli just one stop before.And what a majestic building.And today i heard they have sold off the land,and some apartments are coming up there.I hear the price per apartment is 25 crores,and per invitation.I may be wrong but this is what i have heard.And all around you will find slums,if u stand in the 25 crore apartment.Where is Mumbai coming tobsecne money being spent.What will the maids charge in such flats ?I dread to think.

In the late seventies, Bandra and Santracruz were suburbs and the middle class used to stay there,just like Worli.And Goregoan was called the place of the Tabelas(place where u keep the buffaloes).And at Goregoan we had the Arey Milk Colonly,where we used to go on the school picnics.Anything beyond these places like Malad and Nul Sopara,was the pits.People would wrinkle their noses then.And look today, these places are the prime areas today having better malls,restaurants,amd shopping arcades and better apartments than this side of town.Time changes everything.Kurla was worst.And its prime now.

Film Shootings used to take place on half finished buildings of Mumbai.Heera Panna,at Haji Ali,was half constructed,and I saw the Sanjeev Kumar,Leena Chandavarkar shooting,i dont remember the film name ,of the mid seventies.And Haji Ali Dargah had for many years the Glow Sign of J B Mangharam Biscuits,and we used to think, that it was the Biscuit factory there.

The huge building at Opera House,which houses the Diamond merchants,i forget the name,was half finished and a friend of mine knew someone in the prpduction dept,and we went up to see the shooting.The movie was of Ramanand Sagar,called" Interview",
which starred Randhir Kapoor,and Kajol's mom,Tanuja.The scence was this.Tanuja was hanging from the building,and Randhir was holding her hand,and stopping her from falling down.They shot is thus = Randir is lying on a ledge,the water tank space,and Tanuja was sitting on a big stool,and it was thus shot.the scence of the crowd below was photographic tricks.And after every take,she would ask for a cigarette,she was a chain smoker.And i still laught that they made uloos of us.

Worli Sea Face i saw so many shootings.From my Balcony, if we saw orange lights at night,we knew a shooting is going on and we would run in my fiat to go see it.I saw the shot of "Raja Rani ", Rajesh Sharmila song " Tu Ek Chor,Main ek Rani,sung by kishore and Asha.Rajesh Khanna had to carry a parrot in a cage,and the camera had to pan it in such a way that Rajesh Khanna and the parrot could be seen thru the cage.But it took them two hours each day for 4 days to get the shot right.When we saw the movie,it was a silly shot,not worth the effort.And after the shooting Rajesh and sharmila ran to Flora Restaurant which is chinese,and still intact today.

Seeta Aur Geeta scene of Dharmendra and Hema playing the what u call it,hmm,street tamasha something,was shot on Sea Face,and i was one of the crowd,but when the movie released,i did not find myself anywhere.

"Double Cross" the Vijay Anand,Rekha movie,was shot in our building.The scence was this.Vijay Anand(brother of Dev Anand),comes in his imphala following Asha Sachdev,who enters the building with another man in tow.This means Vijay Anand,was inlove with Asha Sachdev,and was following her taxi.We were thrilled that our building will be shown in the movie.

When the movie released i saw it first day first show.And guess what ? on the editing table the whole movie had changed,Asha Sachdev was not in the movie,and the whole story had changed.No wonder the movie flopped.I used to lust after Asha Sachdev,she was a bomb,one of the sexiest woman that i have seen.God knows how she looks now.If going by wht i look now,i dread to think what she must be looking now.Amen!


KAMAL MAHTANI

 

Dear Aruna,

what a yoeman service u are doing in reviving old blogs like these. ,Giving the autbhor to read read his works. And letting him know he or she did nt receive any comments on the blog.HAHA

Thanks for the kind words.More homework for u too eh !

Regards

kamal