IN 1935, SHIAVAX CAMBATA COMMISSIONED A PICTURE PALACE TO BE A JEWEL OF THE EAST. LAST YEAR, MUMBAI'S EROS CINEMA REOPENED AFTER A PRECIOUS RESTORATION.

When Eros Cinema was inaugurated in 1938— almost a decade after the Roaring '20s ended— it must have seemed like something from another world.

-  ADARSH SONI

With its marvellous stepped-wedge-shaped exterior, ziggurat roofline and a lavish foyer decorated with classical and Indian friezes, it looked less like a building and more like a majestic ocean liner that had somehow anchored itself along Mumbai’s Marine Drive. A poetic nod to the fact that it was built on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea.

Located within the Cambata Building at Churchgate in South Mumbai, Eros Cinema stands out amongst a sea of Victorian Gothic structures. It is a feather in Sohrabji Bhedwar’s cap, who designed the iconic building and was one of the mid-20th-century architects largely responsible for shaping Mumbai's design history. Just like its namesake Greek god Eros, the establishment came to stand in for desire and also modern comforts. And what could be more modern than a space that was capable of projecting moving images on a larger-than-life screen? It was a time when movie stars were treated like living gods, and Eros Cinema was no less than a place of worship.