Mid-Day Opinion: Bun maska-chai, with some stardust

(From left) Matt Damon, Christopher Nolan, and Tom Holland at the Olympia café in Colaba on Saturday. Pic/Instagram/@universalpicturesindia

By the time you read this, I am pretty sure that the owners at Olympia on Colaba Causeway would have had to engage in some pretty insane crowd management, given the kind of publicity the Irani café drew in, in buckets, thanks to the visit by Hollywood's Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon, and Tom Holland, when they dropped by the busy space, en route to the India premiere of their opus, The Odyssey.

City-based social media influencers, who wouldn't be caught dead in the functional, uncool-for-my-Instagram-feed eatery before this episode, must have been making a beeline as soon as the news broke the Internet last Saturday. As the post tweeted by Universal Pictures was splashed across social media and news platforms, I am also sure that many with tonnes of free time in other cities, and unfamiliar with menu inclusions in Irani cafés and restaurants, must have been playing the guessing game over the fare that was served at the table for the Hollywood celebrities. Chai and bun-maska have now gotten cooler, clearly. And equally quickly, the Internet had also slipped into the role of culinary historian, dishing out copy-pasted [with some help from Guru AI] backgrounders about Olympia and everything one had to know about its menu, tables, chairs… you get the drift. It was amusing to hear the owner later admit that he wasn't even aware of the biggies who were at his eatery. He must be elated over the increase in footfalls, post the stardust that was sprinkled all over by Hollywood royalty.

But this visit once again highlights the same old story - why do we need celebrities to remind people about the city's legacy eateries, especially the ones that don't make it to Lonely Planet guidebooks and e-travel guides, prodding tourists, desi or overseas, to drop by for ‘a slice of Mumbai.'

While social media is doing a good job at giving these iconic spaces a lifeline, thanks to posts and reels, it would be doubly amazing if our desi stars gave these spaces the occasional dekko and helped put it [back] on the city's F&B map. As the two dreaded ‘R's - Real estate sharks and Redevelopment cast their ugly shadow over Mumbai - these little nooks of nostalgia need all the backing they can get. They are the last surviving vestiges of the OG city; time capsules that remind us of how patrons ate, and how kitchens fed the hungry, across class and other barriers for over a century.

While it was heartwarming, and a hat-tip to Mumbai that the Hollywood crew chose the humble Irani café over glitzy fine-dines and Instagram-hyped bars for their pre-show pit-stop, it also got yours truly wondering if this would ever happen with a blockbuster Bollywood release. It warranted a few private chuckles. Because you, dear reader, and I know what the answer is most likely to be.

It would be unfair to ignore the fact that Hindi films have portrayed Irani cafés and F&B establishments of similar vintage with a fair share of screen time in the past. With OTT shows, that reach has become broader and way cooler, especially for younger generations. Truth be told, these charming eateries, that are "oh-so-Bombay" in every sense, look amazing on screen. But we are digressing…

What one would like to see is a lot more TLC for these living-breathing heritage spaces, be it from the superstars, by shining a light every now and then on them, or from lay folk like you and me, who can actually keep these places going. Way too often in the recent past, we've had to report in mid-day about such places having to shut down due to tough landlords, redevelopment plans, lack of support from younger generations, and dreaded labour issues. B Merwan & Co, a Grant Road landmark, shuttered at the start of this year. Seven months have passed since then, and we haven't heard of a return, unfortunately.

Olympia will bask in the sun for a while after this Hollywood darshan - and may it continue to stay relevant - but what about similar spaces, like B Merwan, and their low-key counterparts that might be staring at challenging times? Without reading too much into that visit, the eternal optimist in us wishes that if Nolan, Holland, and Damon put Olympia in the spotlight, shouldn't we hope that celebrities or the average junta continue to support these quintessentially ‘Bombay' legacy cafés? After all, these are the places that drip with delightful storied layers about the city on their mirror-lined walls and marble-topped tables. Remember, they need us for them to survive more than the other way round.

Show them some maska now, will you?

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.