Listen | The Wire Talks: Mumbai’s Art Deco Heritage is Under Serious Threat

Mumbai is celebrating 100 years of the Art Deco style, with a series of events which has attracted tremendous interest among its citizens. Discussions, walks and exhibitions are being held to showcase the city’s Art Deco architecture which is second only to Miami. The most visible symbol in Mumbai is the promenade of Marine Drive, though there are other clusters around the city too.

But does this heritage have a future? Mustansir Dalvi, former professor at the JJ School of Art and Architecture and also a published poet, is pessimistic. “It is one building away from being destroyed,” he says in this podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia. The beauty, he explains, lies in all of them seem as a cluster, but if one gets redeveloped, then it is gone.

“There is no sense of appreciation for precincts of the city where there is a lot of heritage,” he says. “It is pretty much up for grabs,” he says.

Dalvi, who has studied Art Deco, gives its social and historical context, how the style travelled to India and why Bombay of that time took to it in a big way. He points out that a new construction material, RCC, allowed buildings to be made in all kinds of shapes, which resulted in curved balconies, round windows etc, which are visible in Art Deco buildings. The style also brought in a new, cosmopolitan lifestyle, with the introduction of restaurants, movies, jazz and dancing, In time, these buildings began coming up in different parts of India.

Listen to the full podcast to know more.

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