India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (76 page)

Finally, if you’re keen to furnish your home with superb Indian furniture, then the best place in the city has got to be
Pinakin
(second floor, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel;
022/6600-2400;
www.pinakin.in
), the sophisticated showroom of interior designer and architect Pinakin Patel. Even just visiting here will be a talking point back home.

7 Mumbai After Dark

Mumbai is hectic financial capital by day, but at night it’s all about fun, delirious mayhem, and a good dollop of managed mischief—it’s most definitely a city that never sleeps, with some of its defining adventures happening after sunset. The best way to figure out what’s going on in the city is to pick up a copy of
Time Out Mumbai,
the twice-monthly magazine that has the most comprehensive Mumbai listings, including the lowdown on the best bars and clubs and a choice selection of all kinds of entertainment events. “The Hot List” supplement in the daily tabloid
Mid Day
also carries extensive listings of live music events, stage productions, and film screenings.
The Times of India
features an extensive “Bombay Times” section that lists and advertises cultural activities, entertainment happenings, and movies.

THEATER & LIVE MUSIC

Mumbai has numerous performance spaces, including its premier
National Centre for the Performing Arts
(Nariman Point;
022/2283-3737;
www.ncpamumbai.com
). The NCPA houses several stages, including the city’s “first opera theater,” Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, which saw its first operatic production in 2003. English dramas and lavish musical concerts are held in the Tata Theatre; the aptly named Little Theatre features work of a more intimate scale. For offbeat drama, student work, and small-scale music and dance, the black-box Experimental Theatre, with its audience proximity, is the place to go.

Both Indian and Western theater and music performances are staged in the main auditorium of
Nehru Centre
(E. Moses Rd., near Mahalaxmi Race Course, Worli;
022/2493-2667
). There’s also a smaller stage for experimental work.

Not far from Juhu Beach is Mumbai’s best-loved venue for serious entertainment—
Prithvi Theatre
(Janki-Kutir, Juhu-Church Rd.;
022/2614-9546;
www.prithvitheatre.org
). Owned by Bollywood’s founding family, the Kapoors, Prithvi has a small, intimate performance space with great acoustics, and the aisles and steps are often crammed with enthusiasts. India’s top productions are staged here during an annual drama festival (Nov–Dec), and the garden café outside is popular with the city’s culturati. Over the first weekend of every month (except June–Sept), free play readings and other performances are held in the gardens at
Horniman Circle
in the Fort area; contact Prithvi for details.

Definitely the top venue in the city for live music, the brilliant
Blue Frog
(Todi & Co., Mathuradas Mill Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel;
022/4033-2300
) also has our vote as one of the most excellent nights out in Mumbai, if not the country. It’s also considered Mumbai’s dreamiest-looking nighttime venue, with eye-catching design that imaginatively synthesizes contemporary and old-world styles. Check the newspaper entertainment listings or visit the website (
www.bluefrog.co.in
) to find out what’s showing—but even if there’s nothing on the lineup that blows your hair back, it’d be worth your while to stop by for a few hours just to soak up the sensational atmosphere, admire the acoustics, find yourself dazzled by the lighting, and watch Mumbai’s social set at its most playful and unhinged. Blue Frog is open daily from 7pm, and there’s a Rs 300 cover charge.

On a more prosaic level, and something of a leftover from another era, is
Not Just Jazz By the Bay
(143 Marine Dr.;
022/2285-1876
). With live acts churning out rock, blues and country (and, jazz, too) from Wednesday to Saturday, it’s not a place of cultural innovation, but you may get a kick out of the studenty karaoke sessions held Sunday through Tuesday.

BARS, LOUNGES & OTHER WATERING HOLES

Fortunately, there’s more to Mumbai’s sophisticated social scene than the beer-quaffing tourist scene at
Leopold Café,
where the majority of the faces you see turn out to be foreigners (or Bollywood agents looking to co-opt foreigners as background scenery for their latest movies). By all means stop by Leopold’s (see full dining review), which has become even more legendary since it featured so heavily in David Gregory Roberts’
Shantaram,
but please don’t assume this to be a place that’s in any way synonymous with modern-day Mumbai. The city, as you’d imagine, has a great deal more to offer.