05 June,2026 08:38 AM IST | Mumbai | Jitender Bhargava
The facade of the iconic building becomes a screen. FILE PICS
We tend to use the label âiconic' very loosely these days, so much so that the label seems to have lost its gravitas. If there is one building that richly deserves that description it is the Air India building at Nariman Point. The Maharashtra government has formally acquired the iconic structure, so it is not a take-off for the airline but takeover, as a defining feature of the south Mumbai skyline has changed hands for Rs 1601 crore.
The official statement read that the transfer was completed in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the State Secretariat âMantralaya' following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, June 2.
The Air India building at Nariman Point is a defining feature of the SoBo skyline
This was a building that was much more than brick ân' mortar for the city. For most, it was a landmark; for people like me who worked there, it was so much more. When the building came up in the early 1970s, it was a different Mumbai. Crowds would come to the Marine Drive, I heard, not just for sea and fresh air but to ooh and aah at the Oberoi hotel, and then, at the Air India building itself.
With the podium, escalator, driveway tunnel, and a two-tier basement parking in those days, the vision of JRD Tata was evident in the design edifice itself, though credit must also be given to the top professionals who worked on the design.
I recall coming into Mumbai and the Air India building in 1989 for a job interview, from Kolkata. Sunbeams danced off the seawater opposite the Nariman Point building. For this sight alone, I thought to myself, I must get this job. I laughed at that thought today, but that was what struck me first. I got that job and occupied my large room on the 20th floor with my desk placed so that I could look at the sea. I sat there for 20 years, a time span that some would consider dinosaur class in today's hop-a-job days.
The interiors of the Air India building, with its escalator ascending to the first-floor ticket office to the board room, were stunning. There was a dedicated elevator going from the 22nd floor to the boardroom on the 23rd floor. The boardroom was all glass; there were glass walls, not just glass doors.
This may sound extremely corporate and contemporary, but there was a distinct old-world charm too. Everybody knows about Air India's mammoth art collection in the building. Every department head, including me, had an antique clock in their room. Every Wednesday, an elderly Parsi gent would come in silently to the cabin, never mind if a meeting was on, wind the clock and leave.
From interior to exterior, the physical façade of the building was all lit up by floodlights, shining like a beacon at night. The building's outside doubled up as a screen. Who will forget the advertisement hoarding at the bottom? Less advert and more statement, it was especially tongue-in-cheek during the Bobby Kooka days.
Today, as the building changes hands, there is a feeling like one gets when you taste the salt on the tongue from the waves opposite. The slight bitterness about the inevitability of change, and yet, a yearning that the character of the building is retained. The revolving centaur logo atop and name of the building should hopefully stay on for ages.
The Maharashtra government has formally acquired the Air India building for R1601 crore. The iconic structure has 23 storeys and faces the sea at Nariman Point in south Mumbai. It was built in 1974 on state government-owned reclaimed land.
The columnist is former executive director, Air India, and author of the book The Descent of Air India
