Intermission filled with nostalgia

Two years ago one of the oldest single screen cinema halls of Mumbai that was established as Novelty in 1887 rebuilt as Excelsior in 1909 and later renamed as New Excelsior in the 70s earned a new lease of life as Mukta A2 Excelsior Across the road an old building housing one of the departments of Siddharth College was recently redeveloped too thankfully retaining the architectural sensibilities of the area Whats not changed however is a 100yearold establishment in the middle of these two landmarks Cafe ExcelsiorArdeshir MazkooriMultiple old wooden clocks tick on the bare walls and handpainted signs announce the Parsi specialties available on the menu Ardeshir Mazkoori the third generation owner who was named after the cafeacutes founder his grandfather has painted these frames My grandfather passed away when I was born hence I was named after him He was a hardworking man When he came to India from Iran he first worked at another Irani restaurant in the area After raising funds he started Cafeacute Excelsior with his brother in 1919 Originally it was just onethird the size of this place In fact they would serve meals in the compound of Excelsior Cinema to make up for the lack of space recalls Mazkoori His father Gustasb Mazkoori ran the place for almost 60 years and Mazkoori took over in 1996 after his deathNityanand KarkeraI have fond memories of coming to the cafeacute as a child We used to eat ice cream or whatever else we could hog on It felt nice to come to your own cafeacute I would run all around the place Nostalgia brings back old customers Thats why I have tried to retain it as much I think thrice even before painting the place as people who have moved overseas come back to relive their time Many families come to the cafeacute where fathers show their kids the tables where they proposed to their mothers shares MazkooriKheema PavThe only thing that has changed or rather expanded over the years is the menu Mazkoori felt it necessary to keep the place running So apart from Parsi dishes such as salli boti cutlets patra ni machchi they also serve Chinese and Lebanese dishes The head cook though has been the same for 40 years his father used to head the kitchen before him Like the cook the manager Nityanand Karkera a friend of Mazkoori from Bharda High School has been working at Excelsior for a long time tooAlthough Mazkoori studied commercial art at Sir JJ School of Art and had even set up his own ad agency his heart lay in the cafeacute and so he chose to continue his fathers legacy Uddhav Thackeray would come here often to eat kheema during his college days he was my junior at JJ recalls Mazkoori The cafeacute is a big pull for movie stars who come for their premiers many of them have become friends with MazkooriIrrfan Khan was here once and Riteish Deshmukh and Vivek Oberoi would invite me to their vanity vans to discuss our food while Shah Rukh Khan stopped by for a chicken roll during the release of Chennai Express Sanjay Dutt would come here often when he would visit the CBI office Comedian Mehmood and his brother were regulars too We are lucky to be next to one of the most magnificent cinema halls of Asia says Mazkoori The most recent film to have been shot here was A Gentleman starring Sidharth Malhotra Singer Himesh Reshammiya spent a whole day at the cafeacute too Because of our proximity to Azad Maidan many topclass cricketers eat here as well Some names include Sandeep Patil and his father Madhusudan Sandeep likes our cutlets and mutton masala Politicians like Jitendra Awhad Ashish Shelar and Jaya Jaitly writer Anil Dharker as well as artist MF Husain who had a fixed table to sit at would drop by adds KarkeraThey say its not easy to escape the glitz of Bollywood and Mazkoori had an unfortunate dealing with it as well Around 198283 I jointly launched a film called Majma starring Mithun Chakraborty and Jaya Prada We had a big mahurat party but sadly we couldnt complete the film and I lost a lot of money Its in the past though I still have many friends in the industry What I love the most though is the love I receive from our patrons That is what keeps me motivated to keep the cafeacute running My only child our daughter Venee is a foodie like me She takes a keen interest in the cafeacute but I am not sure if she will join it after she gets married Mazkoori signs off On April 19 20 and 21 Mazkoori will offer a 50 per cent discount as a celebration of the centenaryAnand Balraj Gulshan Grover and Subhash Ghai at the cafeacute after the repremiere of the 1991 release Saudagar PicsSuresh KarkeraOf filmy buffs and chicken rollsBack in the day Cafeacute Excelsior had a booth system on its mezzanine floor that was famous with couples as it gave them privacy But this was changed after Adi as Ardeshir is known among his friends joined the cafeacute People would also pick chicken rolls and mutton sandwiches to enjoy during their film outings at Excelsior when outside food was allowed in cinema halls DN Road was always an office area so the cafeacute attracted office goers who liked to eat with forks and spoons before the dabba system was introduced No Indian films were ever screened at the old Excelsior that shut down in 1969 It would have posters for films that would be screened two years later as it took that long to get films to India back then The cafeacute depended a lot on the crowd coming to the theatreDeepak Rao historianTime 8 am to 11 pmAt 23 AK Nayak Marg opposite New Excelsior Cinema Azad Maidan Fort Call 22001299Catch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates