Rhythm House: The Latest Cultural Icon

As Rhythm House becomes the latest cultural icon to fall by the wayside, the chairman of Mumbai’s musical cornerstone shares his 45-year-old journey with the store.

- Sidharth Bhatia

When Amir Curmally received a phone call from his brother Mammoo in 1975, he was faced with a big dilemma. Amir was a senior manager in the advertisement department of the Imperial Tobacco Company (ITC) in (then) Calcutta. These kinds of jobs, with a good salary and perks, were few and far between in socialistic India.

And here was Mammoo, calling from (then) Bombay, asking him to quit and move back to join the family firm.

Not only would he have to quit Calcutta and the boxwallah lifestyle, but also relocate. And for what? To help Mammoo run Rhythm House, a music retail store that was doing quite poorly. The founder of the company, Suleman Nensey, had passed away and Mammoo, who had been brought in as a partner, could not manage on his own. If you don’t return, said Mammoo, I will have no alternative but to bring in an outsider as a partner. That settled it and Amir, with a new wife in tow, upped and came to Rhythm House, a place where he stayed for nearly 40 years.

Amir says he doesn’t regret that decision. “At best I would have continued in ITC till I was 60; at Rhythm House, I have continued to work till my 70s and met all kinds of interesting people.” The business has had its ups and downs—and lately, it has been a one-way slide to the bottom—but, “this is a business which you need to fall in love with”.