“The place where Bharatmata Cinema stands today (near Currey Road station) was originally a recreation ground for the mill workers and mill superintendents. Films was (sic) the new thing so they decided to build a theatre,” shares Kapil Bhopatkar in the documentary Bharatmata Ki Jai, directed by students (now alumni) of Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ (TISS)u00a0as part of their Masters’ project. Avadhoot Khanolkar, Anurag Mazumdar, Arpita Chakraborty, Shweta Radhakrishnan and Amol Ranjan, the five filmmakers of the documentary had set out to explore the cinema hall — the many meanings it holds through time — between late December 2011 to early February 2012.

The team of filmmakers of the TISS production, Bharatmata Ki Jai