Mumbai gets the world's first Indian art hotel, where Indian mythology, history and contemporary art merge to make each room a personal art gallery

Mumbai gets the world's first Indian art hotel, where Indian mythology, history and contemporary art merge to make each room a personal art gallery

It's what makes the suburb of Bandra a cauldron of bizarre possibilities. Outside the window, Akon's Beautiful blares from yet another car packed with teenagers zipping down to Carter Road.

And inside, you stare at an Ajay Gulati mixed media work, your eyes glued to the hypnotic stairway leading to light on canvas in the Prakriti room.

Adding to a slew of restaurants, cafes and tattoo parlours that dot the area, Le Sutra (a thread that binds in Sanskrit) claims to be the world's first Indian Art Hotel.

Replacing Hotel Pali Hills, this three-storeyed hotel takes on the concept of "Guna" or a form of energy that makes up our innate character.

While floors conceptualised on the Rajasic Guna (vibrant and active) and Tamasik Guna (opulent) are still under construction, the uppermost based on the Sattvic Guna (minimalist and ethereal) is ready.
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What makes the small, but tastefully done up rooms is that they are characterised either by individual themes (love, purification, sensuality) or based on characters (Ravana, Buddha, Ashoka).

"Instead of launching yet another art hotel, we thought we'd make each room like an art installation, where each element tells a story," says Radha Bajaj, Director Le Sutra.

And so, the Nirvaan room has a Buddha fresco on its walls, with a Sanchi Stupa chair in a corner.

The Shuddhi (cleansing) room has a painting that depicts an out-of-body experience, and a Trishul (with the three points symbolising past, present and future) that also functions as a cool coat-hanger.

Merging a mythological concept with complete modernity is a coming together of traditions. Each room is a microcosm of perfection and a complete work of art in itself - Anjolie Ela Menon, Artist

At: Le Sutra, 14, Union Park, off Carter Road, Khar (W) Call: 26055473