On the gentrified-beyond-recognition stretch of Elphinstone Road and Lower Parel, Deepak Cinema stands like a charming relic of the days when the area was a working-class neighbourhood. The movie theatre has had its share of overhauls since it first screened a film in 1926. But the story of its makeover is unlike that of the countless clone-like transformations of mills into malls, and chawls into swanky gated condominiums in the vicinity. In it, the Shahs, the family that owns the 20,000 square feet property, have retained its essence (the sprawling courtyard, the old-school ticket window and other ingredients of a single-screen theatre) while getting someone onboard they trusted with executing the real makeover — the kind of films the venue would be associated with.

From Deepak Cinema to Matterden Deepak Cinema in 2014, and now, Matterden Carnival Cinema since April, with each re-christening, Pranav Ashar, 29, has ensured the theatre has moved further away from its past association with B-Grade movies, and towards more engaging content. While for the past four years, the theatre has consistently screened acclaimed international movies and retrospectives, since the April re-launch, Ashar, filmmaker and founder and CEO of Matterden, has included independent Indian films in the programming. Discussions with filmmakers have become frequent too, where the inaugural session for this year featured a conversation with Iranian director and screenwriter Majid Majidi following a screening of his Academy Award-nominated Children of Heaven.