Queen Of Arts

The visionary behind the restoration of Royal Opera House in Mumbai, Maharanisaheb Kumud Kumari of Gondal, has many a feather in her cap.

- Divya Gursahani

Seated in the gilded corridor of Royal Opera House, Mumbai, I was awaiting my meeting with Maharanisaheb Kumud Kumari of Gondal, which is in Gujarat. She, along with her husband, the Maharajasaheb of Gondal, Shri Jyotendrasinhji of Gondal, is responsible for the remarkable makeover of the country’s only surviving opera house, which reopened in 2016 after being closed to the public for over two decades. A year later, the property won the UNESCO AsiaPacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation, and has established itself as a centre of art, literature, theatre and music in the city.