Walk through Bombay’s old neighbourhoods and you will still find elephants in stone. At Lamington Road and in Kalbadevi, they guard the façades of two of the city’s most storied theatres — Imperial and Bhangwadi. To most passersby, they are striking ornaments. In truth, they are the emblem of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai and his family, whose motto “Wisdom over Riches” guided a life of philanthropy and civic reform in nineteenth-century Bombay.
Do Haathi Cinema – Imperial Theatre
The entrance to Imperial Cinema, Lamington Road
Picture Credits: Bombay Talkies – The Glory of Mumbai Single Screens
If you walked down Lamington Road in Imperial Cinema’s heyday, you’d remember the swell of crowds outside its gates. Tickets clutched tight, queues spilling onto the street, the marble steps inside worn by time, balconies lined with wooden benches, ceiling fans stirring overhead before the first reel flickered to life. Imperial stood as a beacon of the golden era of Indian cinema, weaving itself into the very fabric of Bombay’s evenings.
Generations of Bombay’s filmgoers called it Do Haathi Cinema. A moniker born of the twin elephants that still stand guard at its gates. These stone sentinels are no ornament. They are the family emblem of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai, the 19th–century reformer and philanthropist whose estates across Bombay bear the elephant motif, often paired with the family motto: “Wisdom over Riches.”
Imperial, one of Bombay’s beloved single-screen theatres, saw the age of silent films and the silver screen in full bloom. It was here that Sulochana drew packed houses, and audiences first glimpsed a young Prithviraj Kapoor on screen. Later, blockbusters from Rattan to Awara filled its balconies. A silver jubilee at Imperial always turned festive. Coins rained down the aisles, and laughter echoed from the pits. Outside, slim song booklets were tucked into pockets, little keepsakes that let you carry the film home.
The theatre has since fallen quiet, its doors shuttered. Yet the elephants still stand, rooting this world of glamour in a deeper lineage. They linked the magic of cinema to the Mangaldas family’s enduring emblem, tying a family symbol to a city’s collective memory.
The Blue-Black Elephant of Kalbadevi – Bhangwadi Theatre
The Old Bhangwadi Theatre, Kalbadevi
Picture Credits: The House of Mangaldas and their love for Elephants
Its productions were legendary: mythological tales and social dramas staged with unprecedented spectacle. Horses, trams, and even fire engines appeared on stage, dazzling audiences who travelled from as far as Kerala and Calcutta. Music was the lifeblood of its performances, with male actors in female roles becoming stars whose songs shaped popular culture and influenced the early Hindi film industry.
Though the theatre itself no longer stands, the elephant remains — a silent witness to Kalbadevi’s artistic heyday and a symbol of the Mangaldas family’s cultural imprint.
An Emblem Beyond Stone
The Armorial Bearings of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai. Picture Credits: Marriage and its Ceremonies
Imperial and Bhangwadi were more than venues of entertainment. Through their elephants, they carried the Mangaldas family’s crest into Bombay’s everyday life. These were spaces where art, performance, and philanthropy converged, reminding the city that culture flourishes when rooted in legacy.
Today, the elephants endure — weathered, steadfast, still telling their story. They connect us not only to the golden age of cinema and theatre, but to the civic vision of a family that shaped Bombay’s cultural fabric.
