Art deco, art dekho or art fako?

MUMBAI: Most architects in Mumbai, whether they fall on the Heritage or Hafeez side of the divide, are soft on the city’s long line of art-deco buildings, which hug Oval Maidan and Marine Drive. One of Mumbai’s favourite boasts is that it has the best collection of art-deco buildings, comparable to Miami.
So last week, when senior architect Raja Aderi— who has been known to rile conservationists with his view that if heritage had its way then architecture would not have progressed beyond the pyramids— cocked a public snook at Mumbai’s art-deco claims, a reaction was inevitable.
Mr Aderi, who has designed the Essar, ICICI and Mahindra buildings and has worked with legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, said in this newspaper, “All the horrible socalled art-deco buildings should be done away with. Just because the chhaghas are rounded and the window grills have a little pattern, we call them art deco. It’s only Mumbaikars, who haven’t travelled anywhere else, who boast of Mumbai’s art deco.’’
Art deco, which sprouted in the US in the exuberant jazz decade of the 1920s,was a skin-deep style in which the facade of the building was dressed up in hyperbolic, geometric patterns, with materials like chrome and etched glass generously used. This style was the rage in Mumbai in the 1930s and 1940s, resulting in what architect Rahul Mehrotra called Mumbai’s ‘Deco District’.
Mr Aderi’s contention is that unlike the flamboyant examples of art deco embodied by the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York or the Daily Express in London, Mumbai’s buildings are a washed-out wannabe version of art deco and many of the buildings are badly planned. Naturally, not everyone is ready to buy this line.
Shiben Banerjee, a young architect who lives in the art-deco Industrial Assurance Building at Churchgate, rises to Mumbai’s defence. “I’ve lived in two artdeco cities, New York and Mumbai, and I think Mumbai is a premier artdeco city,’’ he said.
G.S. Pantbalekundari, secretary, MMRDA, heritage conservation society, said that the Oval and Marine Drive are notified precincts.
“When Natraj hotel wanted to rebuild, we didn’t allow a glass facade because it was not in keeping with the art-deco look,’’ he pointed out, adding with a chuckle, “We meet lots of people who think heritage is nonsense.What to do?’’
Conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah said there’s the New York kind of art deco and the Miami kind, and Mumbai’s art deco is clearly of the latter style. “Hardly,’’ countered Mr Aderi. “Miami is different, there’s far more creativity.’’