Curtain call not yet?

We found ourselves back in the red carpeted interiors of Liberty Cinema last Sunday after almost a decade Much hadnrsquot changed and yet so much had We remember our mum dressing us up before being driven in our Fiat Premier Padmini all the way to the southern tip of the city and huddling us into the dress circle of this gorgeous cinema This time we were in our best flipflops and baggy pants it was a humid Sunday morning and we could be least bothered In the gilded hallways speckled with mirrors and art we mouthed scrumptious beetroot crepes instead of popcorn and sipped wine instead of flat lsquofountain Pepsirsquo from a tall paper glass Nazir Hoosein the 72 yearold u00a0owner of Liberty Cinema had a career in motor sports When his father passed away he took over the theatre and now wants to return it to its past glory Pics Sayed Sameer Abediu00a0 Instead of scrambling for seats upstairs to get the maximum distance between the gigantic screen and the tiny us we found ourselves in the seats up front usually priced the cheapest in any cinema hall And instead of keeping shush while the screen held our attention we were moving to the beat chatting with our neighbours cheering and clapping loudly We gaped at the art scattered around enjoyed the bluesy tunes being served with coffee cupcakes for dessert and almost forgave the theatre for making us scrunch our nosesu00a0at what smelt like pee when we decided to peek into the balcony section Art works on display at Liberty Cinema during Music Matinee organised by Indigo Live on October 28 Pics courtesy Indigo Live Liberty Cinema in a bid to reinvent its slightlytarnished street cred as well as get the cash registers ringing has been opening up its sumptuous interiors to live performances that include theatre and music events apart from screenings of world cinema Add a healthy dose of oldworld charm that has been meticulously preserved by owner Nazir Hoosein its art deco architecture and a sense of nostalgia that creeps into the souls of most of those walking in and we can feel the stirrings of what could soon become a landmark culture hub that had the guts and common sense to break free from its predefined role What allows Liberty Cinema to host such events says Dr Sharmeela Kazerouni coowner of Silly Point Productions that produced Class Act which was staged here is that ldquono matter where you sit you can see the stage clearlyrdquo Pic Sayed Sameer Abedi Down memory lane In an entertainment scene that has been rapidly changing Liberty Cinema that stands near Bombay Hospital has survived a stunning 63 years in the business It ran nonstop often to packed audiences till a month ago when 72 yearold Hoosein stopped screening commercial cinema to make way for alternative films and live performances like last Sundayrsquos Music Matinee an event organised by music network Indigo Live There was an art exhibition a brunch and a blues tribute gig The turnout was poor with about 50 people in the audience mostly friends of those performing ldquoBut being in a venue that has so much charisma and history was amazingrdquo recounts drummer Rahul Hariharan one of the musicians who performed ldquoWhen I first told my grandma that I was performing at Liberty she asked if I was starring in a movierdquo A performance during Music Matinee organised by Indigo Live at Liberty Cinema on October 28 Pic courtesy Indigo Live Called Liberty because its construction was started in 1947 mdash the year India became independent mdash the opulent cinema marked lsquothe beginning of the showmanrsquos consciousness of his productrsquo as the brochure printed in 1949 and lovingly preserved by Hoosein reads ldquoAt that time we desperately needed an outstanding place for exhibiting Hindi cinema and this was itrdquo says Hoosein whose father Habib Hoosein constructed the cinema in order to give deluxe treatment to Hindi cinema audiences Automatic curtain controls push back chairs a modern marquee wooden panelling of Canadian cedar and Burma teak art deco motifs mdash Liberty became the lsquoshowplace of the nationrsquo Hoosein who had a career in motor sports got involved in the theatre after his father passed away ldquoSeeing my passion for cars my father had given the cinema to some of his friends to runrdquo he tells us ldquoThings were okay for a while but soon started to deteriorate since these people were only interested in making money Naturally we started fighting It took some time but I managed to get it back through legal means and business tacticsrdquo At that time the carpets were in shreds some seats were broken and the cinema badly needed a paint job What turned around the fortunes of the cinema however was the screening of Sooraj Barjatyarsquos Hum Aapke Hain Kaun 1994 which ran houseful for 44 weeks The film played there for a total 125 weeks All seemed fine till the advent of the multiplexes in the postMillennium era With tax holidays being awarded to multiplexes and several cinemas in the vicinity running the same film business gradually declined ldquoCinemas have become unviable todayrdquo says Hoosein in his characteristic way of enunciating each syllable ldquoThe government interferes far too deeply with everything Multiplexes were given tax breaks because they are supposed to be tourist attractions That in my humble opinion is a load of rubbishrdquo Turning around Since last year Hoosein has been thinking of ways of keeping the tiered drapes in his cinema hall come up at regular intervals without having to sell off the cinema to a bigbudget company that would convert it into a multiplex quite like the change that the neighbouring Metro Cinema underwent a few years ago In the past couple of months Liberty has hosted a French film festival put together by Alliance Franccedilaise live gigs that included an event titled lsquoLoudest Day of the Yearrsquo by music company Only Much Louder and the theatrical play The Class Actu00a0 ldquoThe design of Liberty is such that no matter where you sit you can see the stage clearlyrdquo says Dr Sharmeela Kazerouni coowner of Silly Point Productions that produced the play ldquoThe stage doesnrsquot have an attached green room but still this was the most surreal experience we all had As a city we need more performance spaces Frankly Liberty wouldnrsquot be my first choice when it comes to watching a movie So we were all pleasantly surprised to see how excited people were to watch a play hererdquo Music Matinee the event held last Sunday might not have seen a fabulous turnout thanks to the exorbitant cost of the tickets Rs 2000 or the fact that Mumbai is too lazy to wake up in time for a Sunday brunch But the organisers are hopeful that the word will spread ldquoIt is exciting to get people to go for musical brunches in a place not traditionally known for musicrdquo says Shom Jagtiani director of Indigo Music ldquoThere is so much excitement when it comes to reliving a Liberty experience mdash only now you can get wine and fancy starters instead of popcorn and a cola We hope to come back here with diverse genres and give people a novel venue tou00a0hang out atrdquo For Hoosein the sudden transformation in the profile of the ones visiting his cinema is only good news These are not the people who will sit in the stall seats and spit out a wad of chewed paan intermittently ldquoThese people are appreciative of this place and these are the kind of people I want to cater tordquou00a0 Not everyone around is happy thoughu00a0 ldquoMy dhanda is getting ruined because nobody comes to Liberty anymorerdquo says Ram Lakhan who sells chana and peanuts right outside the theatre He has been around for 20 years and like the cinema had his days of glory when Hum Aapke Hain Kaun drove audiences to the theatre Business is slow now he grumbles but there is little he can do He canrsquot move because his license and permits wouldnrsquot allow him to ldquoAnd the 1520 people who come to Liberty on Saturday and Sunday wonrsquot even look at me even if they like chana because they are worried about what their friendsu00a0will thinkrdquo Tickets of Rs 350 in 1969 gtgt Liberty Cinema has been screening alternative and world cinema for years now When the price of black market tickets was the barometer of a filmrsquos popularity the 1969 ItalianFrench film La Piscine sold lsquoblack ticketsrsquo for Rs 350 here while the actual ticket cost was little over Rs 3 All because there was a scene in which the actress was topless gtgtu00a0Through the 125 weeks that Hum Aapke Hain Kaun ran here Hoosein reckons almost 2 million people watched the movie at his cinema gtgtu00a0The original architect of the cinema MA RiddleyAbbot an Englishman died just as construction got underway He was heading to London to visit home and his plane crashed Construction was then overseen by a man named JB Fernandes while a lot of the exterior and interior design was completed by WM Namjoshi who also built the Maratha Mandir cinema