Grey stone Gothic facades face cream Art Deco fronts across the Oval Maidan, with the terminus Slumdog Millionaire used for its final scene.
What Fort looks like
The runs the length of Fort, an open green ground with a row of palm trees along its edge. Grey stone Victorian Gothic buildings line its east side, and Art Deco cinemas and apartment blocks line the west. The Gothic row dates from the 1870s to the 1900s, and the Art Deco row from the 1930s.
The rises 280 feet over the university's own campus, a Venetian Gothic spire in buff Kurla stone with pointed arches and round corner turrets. A spiral staircase tower and a large stone archway sit at its base, and a Gothic hall next to it has a rose window set into its gable. stands a short walk northeast of the Maidan, its carved stone facade rising to pointed arches and turrets around a central dome in the same Indo-Saracenic style.
A separate cluster of Art Deco offices stands on , cream and ochre stone from the 1930s with rounded corners and bas relief panels of stylised figures over the entrances. Statues stand on stepped towers above some of the rooflines. Ground floors carry red painted shopfronts, with black metal railings and air conditioning units mounted along the balconies above.
The stands opposite Horniman Circle, an earlier Greek style building with a colonnaded portico raised on a broad flight of steps. The main roads are wide and run in straight lines around the Maidan, and the cross streets between them narrow to a single traffic lane past the Art Deco shopfronts.
Shot in Fort
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus has hosted two documented productions. Slumdog Millionaire filmed its final dance on the platforms inside, and Rock On filmed its opening band performance in the terminus forecourt outside.
Slumdog Millionaire, 2008
The terminus platforms
Jamal and Latika are reunited for the Jai Ho finale on the terminus platforms, filmed inside the working station. The photograph here shows the terminus building from outside, since the platforms themselves are an active part of the railway. Street View
Rock On, 2008
Farhan Akhtar's on-screen band performs the opening number Socha Hai in the terminus forecourt. The Indo-Saracenic facade rises behind them for the length of the scene. Street View
What Fort can double for
Calcutta High Court in Kolkata, West Bengal
The Calcutta High Court is a Gothic Revival building completed in 1872, with a long run of pointed arches and a tall central tower with corner spires, much like the university buildings around Fort's own Oval Maidan. The scale and massing match Fort's own colonial Gothic government architecture from the same period. The High Court is built of red brick with stucco dressings rather than Fort's buff and grey stone, so a colour grade or a tighter black and white frame holds the match better than a wide colour shot. Try searching Gothic Revival government architecture now.
South Beach's Art Deco Historic District has the same curved corners and stepped parapets as Pherozeshah Mehta Road, both 1930s stucco and concrete construction. Miami's buildings run mostly two to four storeys, close to the height of Fort's own Art Deco row. Miami's buildings are finished in pastel paint under a beachfront palm line, so a black and white or desaturated grade on the stonework and railings holds the match better than a colour wide shot. Try searching Art Deco curved corners now.
George Town in Chennai, Tamil Nadu
George Town has its own Indo-Saracenic government buildings along Rajaji Salai, with domes, turrets and arched doorways from the same decades as Fort's Gothic row. The High Court buildings and the General Post Office give the street a similar civic scale. Chennai's buildings run mostly in red brick rather than grey or buff stone, so a desaturated grade holds the match better than a colour frame. Try searching Indo-Saracenic government buildings now.
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