End of An Era! After Kamal Amrohi Studio and Filmistan Studios, Famous Studios in Mumbai to be razed down

Mumbai’s skyline has been swallowing its cinematic past. In a development that film historians and technicians say underlines the city’s shifting priorities, three of Bollywood’s most historically important studio addresses- Kamal Amrohi’s studio (often called Kamalistan), Filmistan and now Famous Studios in Mahalaxmi, are being redeveloped for commercial and residential projects, a move that marks 'the end of an era' for Mumbai’s studio culture.

FinalCutforFamousStudios

Famous Studios- founded in the mid-20th century and long known for turnkey services across shooting floors, dubbing, post-production, sound mixing and VFX- is slated for demolition to make way for a high-end residential tower and redevelopment by a major developer. 

Local reports and industry coverage describe plans to replace the sprawling Mahalaxmi facility with luxury apartments, ending nearly eight decades of continuous film, television and advertising work on that parcel. The news has prompted grief from technicians and creative staff who have relied on the studio’s facilities for generations.

WhatTheseStudiosMeanttoIndianCinema

Beyond bricks and parcels, these studios were the scaffolding of an industry.

Filmistan helped incubate writers, composers and directors who defined the melodrama and musical idiom of post-Independence Hindi film. Its production house years produced classics that are still studied for narrative and musical craft.

KamalAmrohi’sstudio was a director’s atelier- where auteur-driven sets, careful mise-en-scène and the luminous tragic romanticism associated with Meena Kumari were created. Its name carries the aura of auteurist filmmaking in India.

FamousStudios evolved with the industry: from sound-stages and dubbing rooms to modern post-production and VFX facilities, it became the backbone for films, TV serials, ad shoots and more recently OTT production work, training technicians in emerging workflows such as Dolby mixes and virtual production. Its contribution is technical as much as cultural.

Ripples: Employment, CraftEcosystemsandCulturalMemory

The closures and sales aren’t merely real-estate transactions. Studios sustain supply chains of set carpenters, costume houses, electricians, sound recordists, editors, VFX teams and dozens of ancillary vendors. When studios are redeveloped, that infrastructure fractures, jobs vanish or relocate, rehearsal and shooting costs rise, and the dense, low-margin ecosystem that trained generations of technicians dissipates.

IsPreservationPossibleandDesirable?

Some argue that adaptive reuse (converting parts of studio sites into mixed-use cultural hubs or preserving historic facades) can be a compromise. Others say the commercial pressures in South Mumbai and Goregaon make preservation difficult without large public or philanthropic intervention. Developers and owners point to the financial impracticality of maintaining low-yield studio facilities on prime land. The debate pits cinematic heritage against urban redevelopment realities.