Mumbai’s iconic Eros Theatre to be renovated, not demolished

Eros cinema, one of Mumbai’s first single screens and an integral part of both the city’s Bollywood history and its Art Deco buildings, will soon be seen in a new avatar. On Saturday, rumours flew thick and fast on social media that it was being pulled down but officials associated with the development have strongly refuted these and clarified that the theatre is undergoing a makeover.

The Eros Cinema, situated in Mumbai’s Churchgate is a part of the Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai, which was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 2018. However, the theatre has been defunct since 2016. It was previously sealed due to legal disputes and was later unsealed on the Bombay High Court's order.

Earlier, several media houses reeported that the iconic theatre is being demolished, based on tweets by netizens. The most prominent among them was Screenwriter Apurva Asrani, who shared a picture of the theatre completely covered up. He tweeted, “Heartbreaking to see #ErosTheatre being torn down. This South Bombay Art Deco landmark, built in 1938, was was where I bunked college to go to. It’s where I went on my first date & where my first film #Satya released in ’98. Sad that Mumbai can’t preserve its heritage buildings.  Eros which is located in the Grade II-A heritage building, ‘Cambata’, on the junction of Maharshi Karve Road and Jamshetji Tata Road at Churchgate, shut down in 2017 because of poor ticket sales. The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) cleared a proposal by the owners to turn the theatre’s lobby and stall section into a department store and the balcony into a 300-seat theatre