These buildings were based on the city’s visual guidelines. There was constant interaction between their architects and civic authorities, and all plans were approved by a chief architect…,” said Professor Mustansir Dalvi, professor of Architecture, and trustee, Art Deco Mumbai, in his vote of thanks at the inauguration of Architects and Firms That Built Modern Bombay, an exhibition that honoured these great architects and their firms who built the city through the 1930s-50s with the intent to blend progress with the modern way of life. It immediately drew smiles from some audience members, including this columnist, who were seated inside the elegant Durbar Hall at the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. Was it the Gokhale Bridge measurement mess-up? Or, The Coastal Road Project’s environmental fall-out? It was tough to guess. Irrespective of the trigger, this valuable piece of information shared from those days made for a bittersweet realisation. Bitter, because it’s unimaginable to witness such democratic dialogue prevail these days between architects and the local government where citizens came first. Sweet, because this existed at some point in the city, and we are still able to admire and preserve [in many cases] their rich, invaluable legacy.

It is the latter that we were all there to celebrate last Saturday, at the opening session of this eight-day exhibition organised by the Art Deco Mumbai Trust and the Mumbai Research Centre of The Asiatic Society of Mumbai. Honestly, for this columnist the informative displays and memorabilia drew parallels with being in an antique version of the candy shop. However, before we could begin poring over those, chief guest Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet, Consul General of France in Mumbai, gave the audience, filled with the city’s key voices from the cultural and heritage communities, much to raise a toast to. He admitted that Paris also had sites like he’d seen during his strolls down Bombay’s streets that were ravaged by time, and that it was up to its custodians to ensure it survives, and its legacy is protected. The restoration of some of the city’s single-screen theatres restored to its past glory came in for special mention. And about the exhibition, he was impressed to suggest, “I’m definitely going to tell my fellow embassy and diplomat friends to experience it.” The high-point was his genuine keenness to play mediator to see this display travel to France next year to be a part of the centenary of the Art Deco Movement.