ABOUT COSMOPOLIS:TWO TALES OF A CITY

COSMOPOLIS: TWO TALES OF A CITY
(Documentary: 14.5 minutes)
PRODUCER :DEVI PICTURES
DIRECTOR:PAROMITA VOHRA



In two discrete but associated short tales, whose themes are inextricably linked, this film looks at divisions of class, language and food and queries the myths of Bombay as a great cosmopolitan city.

TALE 1: THE FORGOTTEN CITY (Imin.17 sec)
CAMERA: Mrinal Desai – SOUND: Paromita Vohra – EDITING: Jabeen Merchant

A poem called Mumbai, about a city built by workers. A skyline where mill chimneys are replaced by glinting, cylindrical highrises that mimic their shape, but do not hold their memory. A singer who recites the names of train stations, a map in song. In the eye of change, a forgotten city.

TALE 2: DEFEAT OF A MINOR GODDESS (13 min)
CAMERA: Setu SOUND: Gissy Michael, Hari M, Vipin Bhati, EDITING: Kavita Pai ACTORS: Renuka Shahane, Paromita Vohra

This is a film about food and faith. Anapurna, the goddess of food walks the earth and comes to a city by the sea where one of its inhabitants treats her to a gorgeous meal of fish. Pleased, she blesses the city with gastronomic abundance and even reigns as its (very popular) patron deity. However, very soon she faces competition with the arrival her sister, Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. The rivalry between the goddesses manages to divide the city with all the classical intrigue, insecurity and jealousy that make up a good old fashioned battle.

The city spirals into an escalating war over food and property, livelihood and living. Vegetarians don’t want to live with non-vegetarians, Saraswat Brahmins don’t want Jain neighbours and fishmongers don’t want people of other communities to sell fish. Interweaving the fictional war between the goddesses with a documentary exploration of Bombay’s food politics, the film interrogates the divisive politics that characterizes contemporary Mumbai, under its cosmopolitan costume.