Bangalore Noir and Dolphins Bar

On occasion, I have been accused of romanticising otherwise decrepit places by emphasising their relevance in a historical or culturally important context. While I cannot deny that I do tend to exaggerate my preference for a certain type of bar or eatery of this city and therefore verbally beautify the experience of eating there more than actually experienced, I only do this because I like to think of myself, using an analogy from Alan Watts, as the self-aware focal point through which the city of Bangalore views and experiences itself. To simplify, I like to think that if the city of Bangalore wanted to view and experience itself, it would like to do so through the eyes of a noir film maker.

In my head, is a carefully edited opening montage of film shots of KR Market at dusk, seen with an in-focus basket of mallige flowers in the fore ground with an out-of-focus KR Market in the back ground. Cut to droplets of 5 PM rain falling on in-focus Jacaranda tree leaves in Cubbon Park while an elderly gent nods-off on a bench nearby. Cut to dogs sleeping in the afternoon on a pile of garbage in Thippasandra in the afternoon. Cut to man doing meter-coffee technique with checked towel over left shoulder at a darshini in Jayanagar. Cut to college laydiss eating masala puri outside Maharani Ammani College, while steam rises from the kadaley in the foreground. Cut to man sipping flat beer in front of a badly-painted Jimi Hendrix on a wall at Peco’s. Woman dusting the bottom half of a mannequin while the top half lays on the floor at a Salwar shop on Commercial Street. Cut to a shot of a guy with a camera taking the photograph of another guy in a t-shirt in front of Vidhana Soudha. Cut to the movie poster of Upendra’s ‘Godfather’, with the tag line, ‘God is Supreme, Godfather is Extreme!” All this set to the music of Ibrahim Malouf’s Beirut would make for a great big screen viewing experience, a perfect start for a film about murder, sex, betrayal and intrigue in Bangalore, not necessarily in that order.

This and more is the kind of shit I think needs to go into the opening sequence of a noir film on Bangalore. I feel sad that no one, not one person, has ever, ever, thought of immortalising this great city in film. The beautiful Mumbai Poverty, Calcutta’s Victorian Heritage, Delhi’s power hungriness, and Madras’s, well, ‘Nalla Madras’ness, have all formed major characters in films made by Indian and International film makers. Heck, even Hyderabad had its share of silver screen time thanks to Kukunoor. Isn’t there is film-maker out there who is willing to recognise that this city deserves its time? It’s moment?

All this ranting does make a gastronomic point, I assure you. And that point is Dolphin’s Bar and Restaurant in Cox Town. If ever a bar location was to be selected to film a scene of a meeting of two cops from Fraser Town Police Station to discuss a murky deal gone wrong on a rainy November evening, this would be the perfect location for that scene. Dim lights, sun-mica covered tables, steel chairs with dilapidated red cushions and stained glasses with half-filled with DSP Black – Water. My favourite surviving heritage bar in Bangalore that I am aware of. The story goes that back in the day, the top floor of Dolphins was quite the Cabaret spot, posh of course, frequented by the dings and left-behinds from the days of the raj. It even had a ball-room and a banquet that was the talk of the town.

Now, you have meat balls and pork fry and some of the oldest waiters left in the city. Except for that Thatha from Crown Café, who if Crown Café was still around, would be hitting a 100 easy.

 

(Will add images of evening time atmosphere for better emphasis)