National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, Kala
Ghoda Association, and
Avid Learning present Uncovering Urban Legacies: Icons of Bombay –
Gates, Libraries, and Film Posters.
Literary
halls, cinema art, and ceremonial arches, these markers of knowledge,
entertainment, and passage, reveal how the city negotiates with its
environment, nurtures its cultural life, and connects to its history. After
exploring Bombay’s diasporic communities and historic precincts, we return with
the fifth episode of our Icons series.
From the historic Asiatic Society to the
smaller neighbourhood reading rooms and public institutions, libraries have
long served as centres of knowledge and learning. Even as digital media reshapes how we access
information, these institutions continue to symbolize intellectual heritage.
Film posters, once plastered across theatre walls, lampposts, and billboards,
brought the magic of cinema to the streets. These works of popular art also
mirrored the people’s evolving tastes and aspirations. The city’s gates, from
the long-demolished Apollo and Bazaar Gates of the old Fort to the naval
dockyard entrances and the enduring Gateway of India, tell the story of how
Bombay opened itself to the sea, to trade, and to the world.
Join us as we uncover three more city emblems, tracing their journeys through heritage, transformation, and contemporary relevance.
Rajan Jayakar is a distinguished advocate practicing at the Bombay High Court since 1971 and a solicitor since 1975. A passionate historian, heritage conservationist, and collector, he has held key positions in institutions like the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Kala Ghoda Association, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. He has authored books including Beautiful Bombay and Brief History of Pathare Prabhus and curated numerous landmark exhibitions on legal and cultural history. His personal collections span philately, vintage Bombay memorabilia, Shammi Kapoor artefacts, and more, earning national and international recognition, including Limca Book of Records and multiple medals at World Stamp Exhibitions. He has represented India as Philatelic Ambassador abroad. Notably, he set up the Bombay High Court Museum inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Currently, he is working on Legal Bombay and other coffee table books on Bombay’s rich cultural and legal heritage.
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Smruti Koppikar has spent over 35 years as a journalist in Mumbai, reporting and editing for some of India’s most respected publications including India Today, Outlook, The Indian Express, and The Hindustan Times. Her work has spanned politics, gender, ecology, and urban development, shaping conversations on how cities evolve and who they include. In 2022, she founded Question of Cities, India’s only independent journal dedicated to cities, climate change, and social equity. The publication has earned national and international recognition, with its work used in academic research and collaborations across South Asia. She teaches journalism and media studies at leading institutions such as Sophia’s, XIC, and NMIMS, and has mentored generations of young reporters. A founding member of the Dr. Aroon Tikekar Centre for Advanced Studies and Advisor to PUKAR, Smruti continues to document how cities intersect with citizenship, gender, and the environment.
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Anita Rane-Kothare is the Head Associate Professor Department of Ancient Indian history culture and Archaeology, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, she has a deep interest and expertise in archeology, Indology, museology, ancient history, world history and analysis and cultural studies. I am the Vice chairman of Museum society of Mumbai. She is also the Vice Chairman of SRISHTI (Society for research in Imaging Sciences, Heritage and Technological Innovations, President of Bombay Local history society.
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Akshay Chavan is a writer, historian, and anthropologist with over two decades of experience exploring India’s rich heritage and cultural landscapes. A graduate of the University of Lancaster, UK, he further specialized in the anthropology of arts and crafts through the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2017, he founded Live History India, a digital platform dedicated to bringing the stories of India’s history and culture to a wider audience. Over the years, he has authored more than 200 articles on Indian history, art, and culture—works that combine deep scholarly insight with a distinctive ability to make the past resonate with the present.
Read moreBombay’s libraries have long stood as sanctuaries of knowledge, conversation, and community. From the grand steps of the Asiatic Society, where scholars once pored over manuscripts and explorers charted new frontiers of thought, to the intimate reading rooms tucked away in neighbourhood corners, these institutions have shaped the city’s intellectual landscape. These spaces hold books, memories, and meanings, acting as living archives that reflect the city’s shifting identity. As digital technologies reshape how information is stored and shared, these libraries continue to hold their own, offering a sense of continuity and quiet refuge. Within their walls, Bombay’s past whispers through brittle pages and handwritten records, reminding us that learning has always been central to the city’s soul.
The city’s gates, meanwhile, narrate a story of passage both literal and symbolic. From the long-lost Apollo and Bazaar Gates of the old fortified town to the commanding presence of the Gateway of India, each structure has served as a threshold between worlds. These arches have framed journeys of trade, migration, and discovery, marking the city’s transformation from a colonial port to a cosmopolitan hub. The naval dockyard entrances and ceremonial gateways that survive today stand as lasting markers of openness and ambition. They speak of a Bombay that has always looked outward, welcoming new influences while retaining its distinctive rhythm. Each gate is a portal through which the city’s layered history continues to unfold, connecting its mercantile past to its modern and global future.
Then there are the film posters, vibrant, hand-painted, and larger than life, that once transformed Bombay’s streets into open-air galleries of dreams. From the walls of single-screen theatres in Grant Road to the bustling markets of Chor Bazaar, these artworks reflected the aspirations and moods of a city in motion. They were the public face of cinema, carrying the glamour, drama, and emotion of the silver screen to the common passerby. Today, while digital billboards and multiplex culture have changed the landscape, the legacy of these posters endures through the efforts of initiatives like the Bollywood Art Project, which preserves and reimagines them as urban art. In their colours and characters, Through them, we witness the evolution of Indian cinema alongside Bombay’s own transformation, from a city of celluloid fantasies to a living canvas of creativity.
Together, these icons of libraries, gates, and film posters reveal the many ways in which Bombay continues to tell its story. They speak of a city that learns, welcomes, and dreams.It is a metropolis that preserves its past even as it reinvents itself with every turn of the page, every open arch, and every brushstroke of art on its walls.
