I love the idea of shooting randomly... just to keep capturing, without end points - the 'everyday', the 'not often' and the 'first time ever' all alike! And the city of Bombay provides a fertile ground for the 'constant capturer' in me - without (mostly) being stared at, or asked to stop! One could nearly merge with them while recording them/it all.
And one fine day, I put it all together on the edit table, the many beginnings... middles... ends... in different orders - till several stories are wrung out!
I am an unabashed fan of Bombay, (like countless others), and have had the privilege to spend my childhood years in the city .
From Nov 1982 to July 1993. 11 years. What an amazing time to experience this city.
That was an era - before the monsters of globalization, corporatization and economic liberation took over the great financial capital of the country. When people still went to Maratha Mandir, Novelty, Minerva to watch 'tax-free' movies, When the city and its beaches were still the source of evening entertainment and when traveling in the local trains would be a pleasure.
I was a 'very suburban' 'middle-class' 'Bombay kid'. (All three need to be in the inverted commas - cause the categories are strict :); and I was all three) We lived in the Bank Office quarters, in Malad. It was a childhood well spent.
July 2008, since the time I returned to Bombay, I had never even chanced a visit the place where I grew up. Or even to an area close to it!
The visit kept pending.
(Thats another aspect of the city. If you 'seek' work, it will give you so much, till the day, you put your foot down and cry out (to yourself) - "bas yaar, ab kuch apna bhi kar lete hain..").
So somewhere in March this year, Psycho, Yazad and I decided to visit 'this' place 'where I grew up' on a weekend - and with my camera.
Thats how the film 'happened', err... the beginning of the film, a trailer, some middle...
To make it a complete film, to find an end(s) we will go back again. For now, here's the trailer:
A City lost-and-found & the Stories from My Childhood
A Short Documentary by Hardik Mehta
the trailer for A City lost-and-found & the Stories from my Childhood from hardik mehta on Vimeo.
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