The Regal 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 Unit ...

movie theatre A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

located at Colaba Causeway, in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Built by Framji Sidhwa, the first film to be aired at the Regal was the

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...

work '' The Devil's Brother'' in 1933. According to the '' Limca Book of Records'', it is the first air conditioned theatre of India.

History

The Regal Cinema was built during the cinema boom of the 1930s during which Plaza Central, New Empire, Broadway, Eros and Metro all opened in Mumbai. Opened in 1933, Regal was designed by Charles Stevens, the son of the famous 19th century architect F. W. Stevens. Its interiors with extensive mirror-work were designed by the Czech artist Karl Schara. The main auditorium had a motif of sunrays in pale orange and jade green. Its interiors were designed to create an impression of airiness, coolness and size in harmony with the modern simplicity of the exteriors. The Regal was built completely in reinforced concrete cement (RCC), fully air conditioned, and had an underground parking lot for patrons. The elevator up from the parking area was a major innovation at the time. The cinema was the third venue to host the

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

night. Today, it is a multi-use building combining a cinema with shops at street level. The Regal Cinema was the lead theatre hosting the 17th Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), held in 2015, starting from Friday, 29 October 2015. Also, The Regal Cinema was the lead theatre hosting the 18th. Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), held in 2016.

References

External links

Legends of the causeway – ''Regal cinema''
Culture of Mumbai Cinemas in Mumbai The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai Theatres completed in 1933 1933 establishments in India {{India-theat-struct-stub