Built around 1785, the history of this temple is supposedly connected with the building of the Hornby Vellard. It is said that when Britishers failed in their repeated attempts to connect Mahalakshmi area to Worli by building Breach Candy on account of ferocious tides, they had almost surrendered. The problem was fixed only by divine intervention when the goddess Lakshmi appeared in the dream of chief engineer and asked him to remove the three statues from the sea bed and establish them in a proper shrine.
A search operation was launched to recover the statues and a temple was built. After this, the work on the vellard could be completed without a hitch.

The Temple contains images of Goddess Mahalakshmi, Mahakali and Mahasaraswathi. All three images are adorned with nose rings, gold bangles and pearl necklaces. The image of Mahalakshmi is shown riding a tiger and a demon (Mahishasur) in a tandem. Beyond the ornate gate is the shrine wherein resides the buxom goddess of Lucre — Laxmi. The compound of this temple is abuzz with stalls selling flower garlands and pious paraphernalia.
 

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The known history of the temple dates back to early nineteenth century. This temple has been renovated thoroughly in the late 1900s in order to accomodate the needs of the surging crowds of devotees that throng the temple during festive occasions.

The narrow lane outside the temple is the ‘Phool galli’ lined with innumerable stalls selling tulsi flower garlands, coconuts, an array of sweets including the pear shaped favourite yellow sweet of Lord Ganesha, the ‘modak’, and a range of religious paraphernalia. Here beggar men women and children alike, abound.

There are some people who earn their daily bread by guarding the footwear of the devotees while they are inside the temple. Security guards are present at the gates and inside the temple as well. There is a statue of a squatting nandi or the sacred cow, which is the mode of transport of Lord Shiva. Thousands throng the mandir everyday. Popular belief goes that Ganapati, as Lord Ganesha is
called, does not disappoint his devotees. The upper floors house the residential
quarters of the priests.

The sanctum here houses a small mandapam enshrining Siddhi Vinayak. The inner roof of the sanctum is plated with gold, and the wooden doors to the sanctum are carved with images of Ashta Vinayak. The most prominent landmark Prabhadevi attracts many devotees from all over the city. Tuesday is considered the most auspicious day and devotees stand for hours (even before the crack of dawn) in long winding queues to seek blessings of Lord Ganesha. On special days the line can be s long as 3000 people or more.
 

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Mumbai is the center of India’s huge Hindi film industry, producing 120 feature films a year. Much of the glamour associated with the city stems from its celebrated position as the dream-factory of the nation. The local film industry is known as Bollywood. It’s a ragtag speculative trade, flush with
black money and low on innovation. The films it produces tend to be spectacular melodramatic fantasies. They are known disparagingly as ‘masala movies’ because they are made to an established formula that mixes a variety of ingredients - action, violence, music, dance, romance and moralizing - into one outrageous blend. While plenty of thought- provoking ‘artistic’ Indian films are appreciated in the west, masala movies are largely viewed with contempt. It’s
not hard to figure out why. Stock characters, exaggerated acting, self-conscious editing, implausible, narratives and heroines who burst into song every five minutes are just the beginning of a long list of unlikely features that you are going to have to accept at face value if you want to enjoy a Bollywood flick. Despite being dismissed as escapist claptrap, plenty of masala movies get their narrative drive from social issues like communalism, ethnicity and caste. Many also address the effects of modernization and urbanization on traditional Indian
institutes such as the family and marriage. As you’d expect from any vibrant cultural form, masala movies are a reflection of India’s social and political milieu. This doesn’t diminish their appeal or (thank goodness) unduly imbue them with profundity, but it does mean they have an astonishingly direct feed into the lives of their audiences that outsiders may find hard to fathom. On the surface it may be Rambo, Romeo and Robin Hood, but the subtext is likely to be
the Mahabharata, dharma, and social justice. In this context , it’s not surprising that masala movies have been one of the most potent forces shaping Indian ideas of nationhood.

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Located on the west coast of India, the group of islands which has grown into
the city of Mumbai, was probably first recorded as the home of fisherfolk where
a group of Buddhist monks established an outpost late during the Magadhan
empire. The islands were tossed from one king to another emperor for two
millenia, until the maritime trade empire of the British decided to develop the
natural harbour into a city. In the four hundred years since then, the city has
grown by a series of land reclamations which now link the original islands into
one mass.
The city was called Bombay for much of the last four hundred years. The origin
of the name is obscure, but is often said to come from the Portuguese phrase bom
bahia meaning "good bay". The name Mumbai has been used in the main local
languages for as long, and is ascribed to the local goddess, Mumba (ai means
mother in Marathi). The name of the city was changed to Mumbai by an act of the
parliament in 1997.
Mumbai is called the financial capital of India: the stock exchange is the
primary stock exchange of the country; most large business houses have their
corporate offices in this city. It also the primary center for the arts and the
entertainment industry. In India it is the city of gold, of dreams. Everyone
comes here to make money, whether by selling chapatis on Chowpatti or stolen
wallets and used dentures by the roadside. Whatever. Bombay does sleep at night,
but usually rather late and very briefly.

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Major Attraction Of Mumbai.

Chowpatty Beach

Chowpatty is a major tourist attraction in Mumbai. The charm of Chwpatti Beach gets increased much more during the annual Ganesh Chatturathi Festival.Ganesh Chatturathi festival is the major festival of Maharashtra. Alarge image of Lord Ganesha is immersed into the water at chowpatty.

Chowpatty is a place with major attraction for children. There are many things for amusement like The Ferris Wheels, Merry-goround, Camel ride and pony ride. “Bhel- Puri” of Chawpatti is famous all over India, besides there are many other mouth watering attractions available at Chowpatty like golas, chat and kulfi. Snake charmers monkey shows, eunuchs, astrologers and drug peddlers are some other sources of entertainment. The recently opened “Nana Nani Park” along Chowpatty Beach serves good for the elderly to walk around in, sit and enjoy the sea breeze.

A visit to this beach provides an interesting outing with many permanent little kiosks. Chowpatty acts as a base “station between” leading upto Malabar Hill as it is linked to Malabar Hill, Girgaum, Gamdeviand Khetwadi

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