India Post News Service

HOLLYWOOD, CA: One city, eleven perspectives; one movie, eleven directors. That's Mumbai Cutting, A City Unfolds - a fusion of short stories with a common bond. The movie begins with Director and Writer, Sudhir Mishra's The Ball, which portrays the nonchalant attitude of the jaded people of Bombay (Mumbai).

The script of the short pulls you in, and makes you a bystander, who is curious to know what happened and why, but who is left wondering about the outcome. All eleven short stories bring with them the viewpoint of the directors, "we take you through the layers of Mumbai," mentioned Writer and Director, Shashank Ghosh, who along with five other Directors of Mumbai Cutting sat down with India Post and talked about the experience of making the movie.

"Each of these shorts peels the skin off of Mumbai and brings you face-to-face to the core of what makes Mumbai's heart beat." Shashank Ghosh's short - aptly titled 10 minutes - takes you through the minds of four Bombayites whose lives are put on hold for 10 minutes in a city that never stops for anyone. Each character's thoughts in the short mirrors the thoughts of the many Bombayites in today's times. Mumbai Cutting is the first of its kind in Indian Cinema.

"It took the project two years from inception to completion," explained Shaju Ignatius of Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited (Sahara One Motion Pictures). "Sahara One believed in the project because of its unique approach to filmmaking. It focuses on the Directors and not the Actors; the Directors are the Stars of the film."

"The city [Bombay] is the protagonist in all the shorts," stated Actor, Writer and Director, Revathi, "and it's not eleven shorts by the same writer and director. All eleven of us brought our own experiences and thoughts to the table, and portrayed Bombay in our own words." Revathi has been on both sides of the camera, first as an Actor for 20-odd years and now as a Writer and Director starting with her Hindi-English film Mitr.

"Being an Actor is a luxury, you get treated like a royalty. But nothing compares to being a director; you are the Captain of the boat." Revathi's Parcel touches on the sensitive issue of human trafficking, and the abuse these immigrants have to go through just to get a glimpse of their dream.

Kundan Shah's short The Hero also looks at an outsider's view of Bombay but takes a comical approach at the culture shock an immigrant receives when he has to get on Mumbai's local train. Shah, a veteran Director and Writer wanted to bring the lives of the general public to the silver screen. "Anyone who wants to experience Bombay to its core, must travel on the local train - they are lifeline of the people of Bombay."

When asked about his classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Shah had a surprise for all of us, "I am working on the script for the sequel with the original actors." And the sequel, like the original, will be a comedy with satirical humor. And satirical humor is also what Rahul Dholakia has used in his short Bombay Mumbai, Same Sh**. "Just because you change the name of the city doesn't mean the character of the city changes too."

Dholakia's short sums up what Bombay is - a city where the lives of the people are intertwined, and one wrong move can change the course of history. "I had four days to shoot and I used eight different locations from various parts of Bombay to give it that 'on-the-go' feel. And I also wanted to show, that unknowingly we are all interconnected." Dholakia, originally from Bombay, has been in the US for a while and now calls Southern California his home.

"I have an office in Corona but I travel back and forth between India and Southern California. Any chance I get to come back home, I take it." Mumbai Cutting, A City Unfolds had its world premier in Los Angeles, where the uncut, uncensored, and unrated version of the film was shown. The movie has yet to be approved by the Censor Board of Film Certification of India.

"We'll have to wait and see whether the Censor Board decides to delete any scenes from the movie or let it be released as is," said Ignatius. Once the movie goes through the chopping boards, it will be scheduled for release in India as well as in the US.