History
With cinematography getting popular in the early 1930s, the opera house was modified for screening films and holding fashion shows, and held movie shows after 1935. As single-theatre cinemas took a down turn in the 1980s, the opera house too ran in loss. It was in January 1991 that the last film show was held here. There after the premises has been acquired by the erstwhile princely state of Gondal family on a 999 year lease. In 1993, the last public event: the Kathiawad fashion show was held here. The area around the theatre is also referred to as the Opera House in Mumbai.
Ultimately, in 1980s it was closed down. Till recently, it was in a dilapidated condition but in March 2008 the Maharashtra Government agencies announced that they were undertaking conservation measures to restore the heritage structure to its original grandeur. The operational wings of the opera house at the time of restoration works were only a tea stall and shops on the ground floor.
Read more about this topic: Royal Opera House (Mumbai)
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