Being India's only surviving opera house makes this venue more special and also poses a responsibility to the Royal family.
The plush 575-seater, three-tier auditorium that re-opened after 23 years in 2016 has turned two today. The restoration was commissioned by Shree Jyotendrasinhji to bring it back to its original 1916 glory and to celebrate its second-anniversary post-restoration, various cultural events have been organised. The Maharaja of Gondal, Shri Vikramsinhji, bought the Opera House in 1952 and since then it has enjoyed their patronage.
For the evening, a musical performance led by vocalist and sitarist, Imran Khan is on the cards. The musician has curated a medley from Rajasthan that will capture the earthy essence of Sufi and folk music along with well-known songs. When asked about this choice of performance, Kumud Kumari, the Maharani of Gondol, believes that the place has become so much more than just an opera house and grown as a venue to support and showcase the various forms of arts. “We have tried to make the space into a multi-disciplinary art space,” she says adding that the opera house is not just a spectacular venue, but also an entity that is driving the revival of arts and culture in Mumbai.
The curator of The Royal Opera House Asad Lalljee, has leveraged the space to engage more deeply with the cultural, business and diplomatic communities in the city. “Our curatorial vision has been to make the space into a vibrant performing arts venue which goes over and beyond Opera and includes showcasing multiple disciplines within the arts and culture space,” she adds.
Owing to Gondal family’s continued allegiance to education and culture, and the structure’s iconic stature, which was once at the centre of the cultural circuit of the city, the royal family decided to bring it back to life. “We knew it would be a mammoth task but our aim was to revive the space and the culture and heritage associated with it and build it into an entity that would play a key role in propagating the arts and culture in Mumbai,” she says.
The opulent Charni Road venue houses elaborate chandeliers, exquisite paintings by English artists, and royal balconies and have once again become an important space in the history of Mumbai’s cultural fabric. “We feel happy that Mumbai has embraced us warmly and it is a great honour to be called the City’s Cultural Crown Jewel,” says Maharani Kumud Kumari.
Being India’s only surviving opera house makes this venue more special and also poses a responsibility to the Royal family. Even though the family and place have a rich legacy, the Maharani believes, “we are still in many ways very new to the scene.” However, she assures that the family is taking steps in order to uphold the legacy and match the quality of opera houses in the west. “There will always be a responsibility attached to a venue of such significance and with such a rich and decadent past, we would like to look at it as a challenge," she concludes.
