Growing up in Bandra, I have seen many changes over the years. Be it Bandstand, Carter road or Sea Link, each time I saw some progress, I felt pride in this sense of belonging to this part of the suburb.
This week Bandra was once again in news. The star studded launch of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre was the talk of the town. Social media was flooded with picture and videos of every event in detail. Tht of course, aroused my curiosity and I decided to give a dekho.I arrived at Jio World centre, which is the home to country's largest convention centre, retail and hospitality outlet. Took a buggy ride from the entrance toward NAMCC passing through the corridors of large artistic murals, sparkling floors and some craft souvenir stores selling Indian arti-facts.
I got off when a saw a large fountain of Joy beyond large glass window
I was told that the musical fountain of joy operated during evening hours from 7pm to 7:30pm and it was free for all.
On the left, the stair led to three performing art spaces. The majestic 2000-seat Grand theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat studio theatre and dynamic 125-seat cube.
The Grand theatre is designed to host for epic musicals and larger than life theatricals. The Studio and Cube theatres are for range of intimate and immersive experiences in music, dance, drama and other multi-genre performances.
I walked pass the Grand theatre to large corridor that led to art house, a four storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standard. The exhibits spread over four levels explores the multiplicity of India through works of 11 esteemed and emerging contemporary artists and western artists influenced by India
I took lift to 3rd floor and the girl at the entrance led me inside a large room that had large paintings, some photographs and art installations. I was given the insight of what the each item in the room was about. Shanti Bai, an artist from a tribal community in Bastar, Chhattisgarh and her resilient journey was exhibited on this floor. Most of the Shantibai work, both sculptures and drawings, is propounded by the festival processions and other celebrations along every mundane activity in the village.
Children under 7, senior citizens and fashion and art school students could enter this space free of charge.
I was enjoying the ambience, the friendliness of people who were quite helpful and of course the sculptures, paintings and installations that made this place so attractive.
I wanted to explore more, but this time, I made a short visit..will visit again with another friend and will book a ticket to catch some performance next time.
