The Eros Cinema is an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, now defunct,

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

theatre located in Cambata Building at Churchgate,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 1,204 people per show. Architects ''Shorabji Bhedwar'' designed the Streamline Moderne building, it marked the beginning of Back Bay reclamation in early 1938.Page 233

History

The foundation of Eros Cinema was laid in 1935. The cinema opened in 1938 and construction of this building on the then newly reclaimed Backbay plot housing shops and other businesses, apart from the cinema, took about two and a half years to complete.

Design

Partially faced with red Agra sandstone, this building is painted cream. The two wings of this Art Deco building meet up in a central block. The foyer is in white and black marble with touches of gold. Marble staircases with chromium handrails lead up to the upper floor. The murals are in muted colours depicting Indian architectures.

Importance

The building is part of

The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai The Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Bombay is a collection of 19th-century Victorian Revival public and 20th-century Mumbai Art Deco private buildings in the Fort precinct of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. This ensemble was declared ...

, which was added to the list of

World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 2018.

Current Status

The Eros Cinema has been defunct since 2016. The Cambata Building which houses the theatre was sealed by the City Collector due to legal disputes but was later unsealed on the order of Bombay High Court, but the screening at the theatre has not been resumed. However, the Cambata Family who owns the building has been in talks with other cinema businesses to revive the Eros Cinema with some renovation and changes to the building without harming the heritage structure.

References

Streamline Moderne architecture Cinemas in Mumbai Former cinemas The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai Theatres completed in 1938 1938 establishments in India 20th-century architecture in India {{India-theat-struct-stub