Chronicling the history of Famous Studios
MUMBAI, Oct. 19 -- Mumbai is oppressive in October. The air chokes with humidity and hands work overtime to wipe off sweat from faces. But at Famous Studio, situated across the Mahalaxmi Race Course, the month has been too frantic to rue about the weather. At the time of writing this, the imposing white Art Deco building is being hollowed out. People are scattered in all corners of the premises, carrying furniture and air conditioners to place them near the main gate as others keep the doors open for them to pass through. Instructions are being hurled and words are disappearing in constant hammering noises. Given the setting, one might assume it is orchestrated chaos for a film; the disorder is part of fiction and will be rearranged in time. But the shield of stories has been ruptured and it is time for curtain call. Famous Studios, the iconic creative axis of the city, will be demolished for a luxury residential project.
If this is a tragedy then it is a familiar one. In 2017, Raj Kapoor's RK Studio at Chembur was gutted in fire and now an opulent property stands in its place. Mohan Studio, where filmmaker K Asif had erected the dazzling Sheesh Mahal set for Mughal-E-Azam (1940) has no proof of its existence today. The vast area in the Andheri-Kurla road is occupied by housing complexes, a temple and a few shops. Filmistan Studio in Goregaon West was sold to a real-estate developer this year and awaits a similar fate. In the case of Famous, things were finalized more recently. "The decision was taken in the second quarter of this year," Anant Roongta, the managing director, confirms.
"When a studio goes away, so does a part of history," Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) laments. Shammi Kapooor had told him that sitting at the Studio's stairs, Guru Dutt had narrated the script of Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) to the actor. Famous is also where Dungarpur had started his career directing advertisements. As did photographer, Sunhil Sippy. In the early 1990s, he assisted Kunal Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor's son and founder of the production company Adfilm-Valas. For the next 25 years Sippy would direct ads and frequent the studio. "We always wanted to be at Famous." In the aftermath of the news, both visited to visually archive the place one last time.
Even as the past battles obliteration, the legacy endures - no less storied than the films mounted there. In pre-Independence India, Famous Studios and Cine Laboratories was owned by a producer and distributor called Shiraz Ali Hakim. He also financed 'Mughal-E-Azam'. During Partition when communal tension escalated in the country and his lab at Tardeo was burnt, Hakim left for Pakistan. His departure proved decisive. "The rights of 'Mughal-E-Azam' were handed over to Shapoorji Pallonji Group - a real estate conglomerate - in lieu of the construction cost of the studio and laboratory," film historian Amrit Gangar fills in. And, for a loan Hakim owed, the land at Mahalaxmi served as collateral and the lender assumed ownership. That man was Jagmohan Roongta. "My grandfather completed the construction and in 1946, Famous was officially born," Anant Roongta says.
Perhaps it is the sorcery of cinema that, for decades after that, a trader from Rajasthan will hold the reins of one of the most popular film studios in Mumbai. Under JB Roongta, and later his son Arun, Famous earned the mantle of many firsts. It was the first air-conditioned studio in Asia, the first to import film cameras in India, and one of the firsts to have a processing laboratory. During the 1950s and '60s, actors and producers like Dev Anand and Guru Dutt had their offices there, as did RK films before the studio was built.
In the early years of Independence, the centre of the city was dotted with film studios - Roop Tara and Ranjit Movietone at Dadar, Rajkamal Kalamandir at Parel, Kardar Studio and Minerva Movietone at Sewri- with some cropping up in Andheri and Goregaon. In Malad there was Bombay Talkies and in Bandra, the famed Mehboob Studios was founded in 1954. Vast tracts of land were a prerequisite. It might be impossible to fathom today but these spaces yielded great power. "Many major studios had their own identity and enjoyed loyal spectatorship. Leading stars were on permanent payroll," Gangar notes. This is also when Famous thrived.
But upheavals were in store. "The '70s were a bad time for the business," Roongta recollects "My grandfather was planning to sell the Studio but my father intervened." Things had drastically altered by then. Technological advancements and rising real estate prices had caused the industry to move to the north, and the studio culture was waning. Film City, established by the Maharashtra Government in 1977 at Goregaon East and offering consolidated and modernised services, was a cost-effective alternative and informed the geographical shift.
Things turned again. In 1985, Famous opened India's first turnkey post production studio and ushered in a new industry: advertising. The offices, hitherto occupied by film producers, made away for ad filmmakers. Director Ram Madhvani, whose office was at Famous for 30 years till he moved a month back, remembers the transition. "The look of the place changed but the Roongtas kept up and updating." This rings true. In the last couple of years, Famous opened an animation studio, facilitated a co-working space in 2019- till pandemic derailed plans - and converted three of their studios into readymade sets for influencers to shoot. There was a VFX arm, a film lab at some point and a recording studio. "You could walk into Famous Studios with an idea and walk out with a film," Madhvani surmises.
On the second floor of the office space, there is a screening room. When Sippy's directorial feature 'Snip!' (2000) was heavily censored, he played it there. "We were able to run uncensored screenings so that people could enjoy it." Roongta too has memories associated with it. The same year painter M F Husain had approached them to screen his film, 'Gaja Gamini'. "We gave it free of cost," he says and in return for the gesture, the acclaimed artist took some pastels and painted on the office wall.
"We are a family-run business and did our best to remain as relevant as possible," Roongta insists. The inevitable follow-up question then is this: what changed? "The infrastructure is very old and maintaining it would come with deep costs," comes the reply. He also maintains this isn't the end but the start of something. New offices are being opened at Santa Cruz and Andheri East for post-production and labs, in addition to the spaces Famous already has. In effect, only the studio and co-working spaces are going away.
The neatness of the argument is supposed to offset the finality but, contrary to popular perception, places retain memories. Outside the studios, instructions are stuck on the door - "Silence on set", "Exit from here" - like they are still anticipating a crowd. That by next month, none of this will remain is not just a tragedy but a transgression. "As a culture we do not know how to restore," Gangar asserts. The few studios that remain, like Mehboob, Filmalaya and Rajkamal Kalamandir, are mostly rented out for advertisement and television shoots, or live events; each in need of repair. In the absence of an intervention, they might follow suit. This will be a travesty because what we preserve, preserves us....
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