Mumbai: Ever played chess with four versions of yourself? Or stood beside someone, only for one of you to tower like a giant while the other shrinks? How about floating weightlessly like an astronaut in space? At the new Paradox Museum in Mumbai, these mind-bending experiences aren’t just possible—they’re Insta-ready.
The first Indian branch of a popular global brand, Mumbai’s Paradox Museum is where the real becomes surreal. With 55 exhibits spread across 15 rooms, it offers an experience where nothing is as it seems. And every visitor gets to star in a special-effects show—or rather, a smart combination of art, science, psychology, and optical illusions.
“The Paradox Museum in India offers an array of intriguing exhibits that challenge your understanding and provide fresh perspectives on reality,” said Paradox Museum CEO Harris Douros, who was in Mumbai at the launch Thursday.
Located just a stone’s throw from CST station, this is the 12th Paradox Museum worldwide, joining locations in Oslo, Miami, Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Las Vegas, New Jersey, Shanghai, Limassol, and London. While it mirrors its global counterparts, Mumbai’s version brings in a dash of local flavour—‘Mumbai Bazaar’, a room with a giant mosaic of Maharashtrian nationalist icon Bal Gangadhar Tilak. His eyes seem to follow you sternly wherever you go.
“At all our museums across, the theme is more or less similar except we tend to provide one exhibit that adds the local flavour,” Nadia Roditi, COO of Paradox Museum told ThePrint. “In London, we have an exhibit about the underground metro and the iconic stations. And in here too, we have a special exhibit.”
The museum is open daily from 11 am to 8 pm, with extended timings until 8:30 pm on weekends. Tickets are priced at Rs 590 for adults and Rs 550 for children aged 3-11 and senior citizens.
After that, for the next hour or so, all you need to do is “exit reality and enter fun”, as the museum’s creators like to say.
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Putting fizz into physics
Mirrors, glass, and optical illusions are the foundation of the Paradox Museum’s trickery.
One of the standout exhibits is the ‘Who’s the Boss’ room. Here, two people stand at opposite ends of the room, and through a window designed for taking photos, they appear to have drastically different sizes. An incline in the floor makes one person look giant while the other becomes tiny.
“This is the same technique used in the movie The Lord of the Rings,” said Douros. “That is how the Hobbits and Gandalf look so different in height.”
Some installations are even more dizzying—literally. The ‘Well of Infinity’ is particularly vertigo-inducing. Using glass and lights, it creates the illusion of a bottomless well. Jumping over it feels like you’re plunging into its depths.
“Don’t worry, this is totally safe and you won’t fall inside a pit,” reassured Douros. “But yes, definitely you will get the illusion that you are jumping into a well that has no bottom.”
The ‘Zero Gravity Box’ is another head-spinning illusion. A continuously rotating cube, it gives you the sensation of flying—free from the pull of gravity—as you move along it.
A little ahead, there’s the ‘Paradox Tunnel’, designed so that everything around you seems to be tilting, making walking through it a disorienting and almost impossible job.
And in the ‘Reverse Room’, every inch is mirrored, creating the illusion that your head is on the floor and your feet are on the ceiling, as if you’re walking upside down.
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Insta magic
Each exhibit at the museum is designed not only to trick the senses but also to deliver some truly wacky photo ops. One example is the ‘Lunch is Served’ exhibit, perfect for Halloween—your head appears as the main course on a plate while the rest of you mysteriously vanishes.
The entire museum is covered from ceiling to floor in vibrant colours and pastel tones, all carefully constructed for the Instagram era. Every exhibit is marked with “Stand here for photos” spots to guide visitors on where to get the best angle for their shots.
“It is important to know how to click a picture to get the intended impression. For example, in the ‘Reverse Room’, it is important that an inverted image is produced. And to get the impact, the use of a reflective floor is crucial. We have carefully built this museum so that curiosity is maintained about your pictures,” said Douros.
Founded in 2022, the Paradox Museum has expanded to 12 cities in just two years. Plans are already afoot to open two more museums in India soon.
“This museum is intended to educate and entertain people. So far, millions of people have enjoyed our museum globally and we hope Mumbai will get entertained too,” said Roditi.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)