Reaching Adlabs Imagica, the theme park situated in Khopoli a couple of hours out of Mumbai, on a sunny Friday morning in the company of in-house photojournalist Anmol Kanojia, we did not immediately warm up to the deserted look on the outside.
Children were not screaming to be ushered in, parents were not running after them, and the monster-themed rollercoaster rides looked bereft of the stomach-churning exhilaration Imagica promises in advertisements. Several schools across the Maharashtra state are yet to break for summer holidays, and the promised hordes will be on their way over the next few weeks.
India has nearly 18 theme parks that can be classified as large (more than 40 acres), and Imagica is on this list along with Essel World near Mumbai and Wonderla in Kochi and Bengaluru. According to the recently released FICCI-Frames report on the media and entertainment industries, Imagica recorded 1.06 million footfalls in 2015.
The Adlabs Imagica theme park was opened in 2013. It was built at a reported cost of Rs 1,650 crore and took five years to complete. Spread over a 300-acre plot near Mumbai, Imagica has three main zones: a park with several themes, a snow park, and a water park. The theme park alone has more than 20 rides to offer, and the destination includes a 287-room hotel for families to spend a weekend to cover all three attractions.
Imagica is designed as India’s answer to the Disneyland and Universal Studios theme parks in America, both of which have a steady stream of films to emulate. Does Bollywood have the same effect on Imagica?
It was time to get to work.
The entrance lead to a sluiced waterfall cascading into a lotus pond. On a cliff above the waterfall, a castle was designed in the style of the Walt Disney Pictures logo. We stood in the heat, waiting for a rainbow to sprinkle sparkly magic dust over us. Imagica has the imitation down pat, but what about the special effects?
The first set was called the Pinocchio Museum. It was shut, with many fairy tale characters, such as Rapunzel, Snow White and the Sleeping Beauty, permanently locked inside. The museum’s padlocked gates was a sign of things to come.
We moved on to Vertigo, a virtual world game in which a participant has to wear headgear and walk on a wobbly cushioned plank suspended between the tops of two skyscrapers.
The game presumably derives its inspiration from Vertigo (1958), the Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller in which a police detective suffers from acrophobia as well as a false sense of rotational movement.
In our desperate attempt to find a Bollywood connection, we were instantly reminded of the scene from the comedy film Ishq (1997) that turns acrophobia into a sight gag.
Ajay (Ajay Devgn) is shown dangling on a pipe between two high-rises, while Raja (Aamir Khan), who is afraid of heights, tries to rescue him by walking on the plank. My colleague tried the game, and had he missed a step, he would have fallen on beanbags placed alongside the cushioned plank on the floor.
We had, of course, read up on the accidents that have taken place here in the past. In 2014, a mother and daughter suffered severe injuries on a roller coaster ride and in 2016, a girl drowned in a wave pool.
We sat through several 3D rides, including one offering a bird’s eye view of a map of India that missed out on the eastern section of the country. A ride modelled on Jurassic Park (1993), called Rajasaurus River Adventure, took us through a cavernous landscape in a boat with a commentary in Hindi about many extinct animals before plunging us into a welcome pool of water.
Mr India, a 3D ride based on the popular 1987 film of the same name, featured on-screen animation and the voices of lead actors Sridevi and Anil Kapoor. The highlights included a journey to recover the hero’s watch that makes him invisible and an encounter with the villain Mogambo, who steals the timepiece. Mogambo’s dying words are apt for this ride. A voice that mimics the character played by Amrish Puri in the movie declares that “Mogambo khush nahi hua (Mogambo is not happy)“ while falling into a pit of fire. Mr India is the only Bollywood-themed ride and the star attraction of the venue.
The horror ride Salimgarh evokes more laughter than chills, while the gun-toting adventure in Ali Baba Aur Chaalis Chorr is strictly for children. Movie references could have easily livened up these rides. What if Gabbar Singh’s voice from Sholay (1975) had boomed, “Kitne aadmi thay?”. Or what if the wispy voice of Lata Mangeshkar singing Gumnaam Hai Koi (Gumnaam, 1965) had wandered through the corridors of Salimgarh?
It took the massive rides to shake us out of our torpor. The Nitro Rollercoaster Ride, Dare Drop, and Scream Machine are full value for money and guaranteed to make the sky turn upside down.
The FICCI-Frames report also informs us that the Indian theme park industry has grown at 10.25% to reach Rs 29.3 billion, compared to Rs 26.6 billion in 2015. “However, the industry is currently at a nascent stage when compared globally as the global theme park market stands at Rs 2.66 trillion,” the report notes. “The industry is expected to grow to Rs 69.8 billion by 2021, with an annual growth of approximately 19.1 per cent.”
As a theme park designed by a company that has a long association with the Hindi film industry in terms of film processing, production and cinema exhibition, we expected a Bollywood-style spectacle. If there is one place that needs a big dose of Bollywood to grow even more popular, it is Imagica.
