| Orlem | |
| Settlement Type: | Suburb |
| Pushpin Map: | Mumbai |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | India |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Type3: | City |
| Subdivision Name1: | Maharashtra |
| Subdivision Name2: | Mumbai Suburban |
| Subdivision Name3: | Mumbai |
| Government Type: | Municipal Corporation |
| Governing Body: | Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (MCGM) |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Languages |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Official |
| Timezone1: | IST |
| Utc Offset1: | +5:30 |
| Postal Code Type: | PIN |
| Postal Code: | 400064 |
| Area Code: | 022 |
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Civic agency |
| Blank1 Info Sec1: | BMC |
| Demographics1 Info1: | Marathi |
Orlem is a neighbourhood in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai.[1] Its original name in the official language of the state (Marathi) is Valnai, a term used to describe the area as "Valan" meaning turn or curve. The village was settled on a path that curved. The postal zip code 400064 serves the neighborhood. According to a Church census conducted in 2004, it was the largest parish in the Archdiocese of Bombay.[2]
Orlem is situated at the northern part of Mumbai in the western suburb of Malad. It branches from the main road called Marve Road, which is the main route to Marve beach from Swami Vivekanand Road.[3] It is accessible from the Malad Railway station through the bus routes 210, 243, 270, 271, 272, 273, 281,345, 622 and 707
Our Lady of Lourdes Church http://lourdeschurchorlem.org/index.html, established in 1916, is also known as Orlem Church. Many major B.E.S.T. bus routes stop here and some routes terminate here.
Major zones in Orlem:[4]
Orlem is the channel for many Mumbai beaches such as Marve Beach, Aksa Beach, Madh Island, Erangal, and Dana Pani.
Orlem was traditionally inhabited by the Bombay East Indians, Koli and SKP communities. According to a 2004 Church census, there were around 7,000 Tamil Catholics in the parish.[2] With the huge boom of the call centre service industry in the 2000s, Orlem witnessed a large influx of young working class executives.
Many businesses have grown in and around Orlem. Famous restaurants like Uncle's Kitchen, and shopping malls such as 'Inorbit Mall', 'Hypercity', 'D-Mart' & the new 'Infinity Mall' are close to Orlem.
The major schools in Orlem are St. Anne's High School and Junior College, St. Anne International School, Shri Balaji International School, Carmel Of St. Joseph, and St. Joseph's School.
Orlem is home to a vibrant sporting community, predominantly in the fields of hockey and football.[5]
The writer Lindsay Pereira's debut novel, Gods and Ends, is the first to be set in Orlem.[6] [7] [8] It was published by Penguin Random House in March, 2021,[9] [10] and focuses on the Goan Catholic community, as well as the East Indian and Mangalorean population of the suburb. The book was described in The Hindu as "a stark and fearless portrayal of the Roman Catholic community in the Bombay of yore."[11]
In the Hindi movie Merry Christmas, at the very beginning, Maria, a married women discloses to a stranger [whom she met by chance in a restaurant], that her husband had been spending the night in bed with his girl friend at Orlem.
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