Coming to Mumbai is entering another world, or perhaps it’s more proper to say you’re entering a thousand other worlds at once. It is one of the most spectacular places on earth, in every sense of the word. There is a rich and vibrant population here that’s always moving and shifting, and it’s been this way for centuries. Today, there are even more people, and more technological developments, but it often feels just like the descriptions of the city written hundreds of years ago. It’s a fabulous opportunity to visit here, not only because it is a window into Indian culture, but it’s a window into the world as it is being lived in the immediate here and now.
Mumbia itself is a complex relationship of many cultures and languages and traditions, and it changes every time someone or something new enters into the picture. In this way, it is extremely adaptable, and there are also some practices here that go back for thousands of years, and it can also seem very traditional. This is reflected in the cuisine. To look at any Mumbai restaurant, the first thing you might notice is that it looks and tastes like no other Mumbai restaurant. Individual tastes and styles are everywhere here, and there is really something for everyone. It is worth months of investigation to find contemporary currents in Mumbai cuisine, and even then, things will have changed significantly.
This is also true in film culture. There are certain formulas which work over and over again in Bollywood, as well as in independent films here, and there is always something new and fascinating. Performing the Goddess, when it appeared at the Mumbai Film Festival, is a particularly good example. This innovative film covered the life of Chapal Bhaduri, who spent his career playing women’s roles in Jatra theatre, and then playing the destructive goddess when he was too old to play the heroine. This spectacular film is layered and complex, revealing more than could possibly meet the eye, and leaving many things hidden. There is a strong sense of tradition here, as well as innovation in the narrative structure, as well as in the subject matter, where the lives lived on the street are constantly under negotiation, and move to an unseeable and yet divine spark.
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