Today an electronics hub, Lamington Road was once a stretch of limestone kilns

The spot where the 1,500 seater Minerva theatre stood has now been barricaded from all sides. Express

NOT MANY Mumbaikars will be able to locate Dr Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar Marg on the city map. Better known as DB Marg, this South Mumbai road is better known as Lamington Road, and has, over the course of a century, gone from being a hub of limestone kilns to being a hub for cheap electronic goods.

In his book, Bombay Place-Names and Street-Names, Samuel T Sheppard writes that on May 1, 1913, then Municipal Commissioner P R Cadell informed the municipal corporation that the Improvement Trust had constructed a broad road from the end of Queen’s Road to Gilder Street. He quotes Cadell as saying, “..a new name is required to cover the whole length of the street… I would suggest the approval of the Corporation that it be called Lamington Road. Lord Lamington as Governor of Bombay took a warm interest in the affairs of the city and visited its streets frequently…. Sheppard writes that on the motion of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, it was resolved to name this new stretch of road “Lamington Road”, after the 2nd Baron Lamington, Governor of Bombay, 1903-07.

Lord Charles Wallace Lamington, a British politician and colonial administrator, was the Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901 before he was posted to India, where he was Governor of Bombay from 1903 to 1907. City historian Deepak Rao says, “Lamington Road was carved out only in 1913. Before that the main stretch of what is Lamington Road today was called the Chunam Kiln Street as limestone was prepared there. After the entire road was called Lamington Road, it was referred to in two parts, Lamington Road north and Lamington Road south.” Rao says the two stretches were quite dissimilar in character. “Lamington Road north stretched from Saat Rasta to the Lamington Road police station. On this side, you would find mills, quaint bungalows and railway quarters. There were also quaint bungalows by Parsis and Muslims that have all gone now.”

The south end stretching from the police station to Opera House known as Lamington Road south was the more glamorous part. “It had several theatres like Imperial, Minerva, Apsara, Novelty and Naaz. These were the top theatres, where actors would would come for their movie premiers. Police would have to be deployed to control the crowds that would come to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars,” Rao says. Apart from the theaters, several film distributors were known to have their offices there. Today, however, with the majority of these iconic cinema halls shut down, there are only little signs of an area once giddy with Bollywood fever. The spot where the 1,500 seater Minerva theatre stood has now been barricaded from all sides, the building demolished.

Ketan Melwani, a shop owner near the theatre, says, “Even now, every once in a while, we have visitors who ask us about where the theatre was. They take photographs and go. We have heard tales from our parents about how this was one of the most happening places to be in the city.”

No, however, a different type of crowd throngs the former Lamington Road. Ritesh Dedhia, who comes to make purchases at Lamington Road “at least once every few months” says, “I check the latest gadgets online but come and make the purchases here. The electronic shops here manage to get the latest electronics at the cheapest rates.” Even though the road name was changed from Lamington Road to Dr Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar Marg on April 26, 1964, not many people are aware who Dr Bhadkamkar was.
According to a book on the doctor whose name was Ramkrushna Hari Bhadkamkar, he hailed from Kolhapur, and did his graduation from Grant Medical College in 1909. The book that is a compilation of pieces by several people known to Bhadkamkar says he was especially known to have provided medical help to the poor and downtrodden. Bhadkamkar was also known to be a Sanskrit scholar.