The Taj Mahal Hotel continued to be a focal point in Mumbai’s socio-cultural life through successive decades adding on features such as the exclusive business club, Chambers and a discotheque with the uncharacteristically shortsighted name, ‘1900s’. It was the place for fine dining with options that ranged from Tanjore to Sichuan and included more casual spaces such as the Sea Lounge which offered a calming view of the harbour and the 24-hour coffee shop, the Shamiana.

Having built the hotel of his dreams, Jamsetji Tata in a characteristic gesture of largesse had declared that the profits would go to charity which was the case till the 1970s, when the Indian Hotels Company, which was privately owned by the Tatas, went public. Around the same time, a new wing, the Taj Intercontinental, was also added to the hotel. The addition-that Mumbai historian Gillian Tindal describes as a ‘Moorish skyscraper’ was somewhat controversial, both for its looks and for the rumour that the hotel preferred to house its less genteel customers there.

The seventies were a time of change in Mumbai. Competition to the Taj came up in the form of newer hotels such as the Oberoi Sheraton. Hotels also came up in the suburbs, particularly in the Juhu area, which was a popular haunt for film stars. The city was expanding and along with South Mumbai, the Taj too began to lose its primacy. A controversial documentary in the mid-eighties poked fun at the pretentiousness of its patrons, including a socialite who suggested airily that the Taj was akin to a private club.

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