Now Reading: Veteran filmmaker Sai Paranjpye on Bombay’s vanishing intimacy
-
01
Veteran filmmaker Sai Paranjpye on Bombay’s vanishing intimacy
Veteran filmmaker Sai Paranjpye, 88, recalls a Bombay defined not by landmarks but by the 'smell of kerosene and wet cotton' in its chawls. In an interview, she describes the city's vanished…
The Story in Brief
Veteran filmmaker Sai Paranjpye, 88, recalls a Bombay defined not by landmarks but by the 'smell of kerosene and wet cotton' in its chawls. In an interview, she describes the city's vanished intimacy, where workers lived in cramped quarters, sharing walls and lives. Paranjpye, who worked across radio, television, and film, says she never aimed to belong to parallel or mainstream cinema, but simply to depict lived truths. Her film 'Disha', shot in a workers' dormitory, captured men separated from their families, their longing filling a room. She contrasts this horizontal, communal Bombay with today's 'efficient, vertical' Mumbai, questioning how millions coexist without 'collapsing under each other's presence'.
The Indian Opinion
The nostalgia for a city that no longer exists is a familiar trope, but Paranjpye's lament for Bombay's lost 'intimacy' risks romanticising a past where millions endured cramped, harsh lives in chawls. Her contrast between gritty Girangaon and today's 'efficient, vertical' Mumbai ignores that many then dreamed of escaping those narrow lanes and shared taps. The real question is not whether cities lose character, but whether the trade-off for better housing and services is worth the cost. Paranjpye's own career, thriving despite moving between cities, proves adaptability, not stagnation, defines urban life. Will Mumbai's future balance memory with progress, or are we doomed to choose?
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
