Rex

Rex would be an unheard name for many of our readers as the cinema shut long ago in the 1970s but it has its unique life story worth exploring. This is a cinema of the bygone era with no picture available but that shouldn’t stop us from celebrating its past glory. So here we go..

In the British period, two Parsi gentlemen Jahangirji Bhavnagri and his son Shapoorji Bhavnagri worked at Indore Mills in Mumbai. One fine day, they won a lottery draw and a horse race. But British government refused to give them the share. The matter went to court and the outcome came in favour of the Bhavnagris who decided to invest this money in building up cinema halls. They decided to name their theatres after the winning horses and thus came Derby, Rex, Radio and Diana. Derby (now Premiere Gold) was located in Dongri, Radio was where Manish market stands currently, Diana was at Tardeo junction and Rex was built opposite Ballard Pier’s Red Gate close to Indira Docks (then known as Alexandra Docks).

Rex was built in late ‘30s around Second World War after Derby started operations. It was not as popular as other cinema halls in the elite area like Regal, Eros, Sterling, New Excelsior, etc but nevertheless, got its loyal patrons by keeping the ticket prices low and screening some top Hollywood films of that era. The theatre was mostly frequented by Parsis, Christians, sailors and workers from the nearby docks. Despite being not so well maintained as the other theatres in town, Rex got a decent crowd who would come well dressed in suits and ties to the show, almost giving a feel of an opera night. In those times, visiting a cinema was like a grandiose event for its patrons and they would come in their best attire unlike today’s high priced multiplexes where people come casually dressed in tees and shorts.

Rex wasn’t a big theatre but a modest one of less than five hundred seating capacity. It had a huge compound with a beautiful garden which the audience used for a stroll or a cigarette break in between the movie. The theatre was known to screen Hollywood films particularly the spaghetti actioners. In its later years, it also screened Hindi films and the weekends would invariably run to packed house.

Some of the Hollywood films which did well at Rex are Wichita (1955), Gunfight AT O.K Corral (1957), Last Train From Gun Hill (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), The Robe (1964), 633 Squadron (1964), Fantomas (1964), Genghis Khan (1965), El Dorado (1966), Sugar Colt (1966), Django ( 1966) and The Good The Bad and The Ugly (1966). Notably, Clint Eastwood movies were a huge draw here due to his cowboy charm.

The biggest hit of Rex was The Guns of Navarone (1961) which ran successfully for thirty eight weeks at this cinema creating a new record run for an English film in Mumbai. Noronha Enterprises, the distributor for this film, had a tie up with Rex as the main theatre for Guns of Navarone as they couldn’t release this film at other theatres affiliated to rival production houses. The film attained cult status here and Rex came to be identified for Guns of Navarone just like Minerva became for Sholay (1975) in the later years.

During the release of Guns Of Navarone at Rex, a special booklet would be issued to every individual at the entrance which gave insights and information about the film and its show timings. The film had multiple re-runs at Rex right through the ‘60s.