Summary:
The freshly-polished doors of Gulshan Mahal, off Peddar Road, are all set to welcome PM Narendra Modi, who will inaugurate the country’s first National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) on January 19. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who heads the Museum Advisory Committee, told TOI in 2016 that this is by design. “As far as I know, this museum does not have a large collection of original film memorabilia or a qualified, full-time, passionate, cinephile director or curator.” Benegal had also predicted that the complex would become a highlight of the touristy ‘Mumbai Yatra’. The building has four exhibition halls with specific themes: ‘Gandhi and Cinema’, ‘Children’s Film Studio’, ‘Technology, Creativity and Indian Cinema’, and ‘Cinema across India’.The new building with its glass façade, marble and granite interiors and gleaming escalators bears no resemblance to the Grade II heritage bungalow on its right..