Nearly 70% Complete, ₹25 Crore Spent: Will Mira-Bhayandar's Lata Mangeshkar Gurukul Become A Music School Or The Mayor's Residence?

Mumbai: As citizens, we have grown accustomed to changes in administration bringing with them changes in priorities. New governments arrive with different ideas about how public land should be used and which civic projects deserve attention. That is part of how cities evolve. But when a project is already nearly complete, the question is not simply what a new administration would prefer to build. It is whether the original public purpose should be set aside, and at what cost to the public investment already made.

That question now confronts Mira-Bhayandar, where a Gurukul-style music academy named after Lata Mangeshkar, estimated to cost Rs25 crore and roughly 70% complete, is slated to be converted into the Mayor’s residence. The building, a ground-plus-two structure of around 25,000 sq ft, stands on an amenity plot within a municipal playground. Its bhoomipujan was held in Sept 2023, in the presence of Usha Mangeshkar and members of the family. The municipal corporation’s general body has since resolved to repurpose the structure, citing limited space at the existing Mayor’s residence.

Mira-Bhayandar already possesses an official Mayor’s Bungalow, built around 2004. It has been occupied by only one mayor in the past two decades. The practical requirement of a municipal office-holder’s residence is understandable. What has not been placed on the public record is any alternative site for the nearly completed Lata Mangeshkar Music Gurukul.

The original proposal was more than a building. It was conceived as a place where children could receive structured training in classical and film music traditions, an institutional cultural space of a kind a growing suburb rarely has. Naming it after Lata Mangeshkar gave the project added significance. Her contribution to Indian music represents a tradition that requires institutions, teachers, and opportunities for younger generations to carry it forward.

Mumbai has seen what sustained institutional investment in music education can achieve. At the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Chairman Khushroo N Suntook’s vision for the Symphony Orchestra of India has included a music academy that has trained young musicians, produced graduates, and created pathways into professional performance. Such institutions do not emerge overnight. They require dedicated spaces, continuity of vision, and the willingness to invest in cultural infrastructure beyond the immediate demands of the city.

The proposed Gurukul offered a chance to begin building that ecosystem closer to home. Its conversion, without a corresponding commitment to relocate or recreate the academy, would leave the original public need unanswered. A building named after Lata Mangeshkar was meant to give a home to those who pursue music. If the building is to serve another purpose, the question is not whether the city can afford to build a music school elsewhere. It is whether it can afford to abandon the promise altogether.

Ankieta Kothari is the founder of The Bombay Blueprint, a public platform chronicling Mumbai’s architecture, heritage and evolving urban landscape.

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