Most memorable films are driven by a strong, compelling narrative that dictates the behavior of its characters: challenges to be overcome, problems to be solved, relationships to be resolved.
 |
| As Prabha (Kani Kusruti, left) watches apprehensively, Anu (Divya Prabha) tries to figure out where this unexpected gift — a fancy rice cooker — came from. |
We’re first introduced to the city itself, as viewed through the windows of a passing bus, via an impressively long tracking shot: bustling, cacophonous, overwhelmingly crowded. And hot, humid and wet; rain is constant, windows nonetheless left open to catch an occasional stray breeze.
This portion of the city — Lower Parel to Dadar — is in constant transformation, with rapacious developers demolishing residential chawls (tenements) that have long housed the workers who keep the city functioning, into gated luxury building complexes and high-end shopping malls.
One particularly obnoxious billboard shamelessly flaunts the blatant unfairness of India’s caste system: “Class is a privilege ... reserved for the privileged.”
Random individuals express their thoughts, off camera and in different languages — Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Bengali — as this bus proceeds, each brief snippet a haunting saga of its own:
“I’ve lived here maybe 23 years, but I feel afraid to call it home. There’s always the feeling I’ll have to leave.”
“I fought with my dad, so I packed my bag and left for Mumbai. My brother had a job at the dockyard. His place smelled so bad, the first night I couldn’t sleep.”
“I was pregnant, but I didn’t tell anyone, because I’d recently found a job at a house. I had to take care of a lady’s kids, but they were pests. But the lady ... she fed me well. That year I ate like a queen.”
