City of Gold (Hindi)
Today, there is hardly anyone who hasn't visited the swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs and other such lifestyle destinations that sprung up across the centre of Mumbai. However, very few know that buried deep below these glittering edifices to consumerism lies the dark, dirty and painful reality of many thousands of mill workers who once worked the cotton mills in this very same area.
Rising and toiling to the wail of the mill sirens each and every day, seven days a week, these workers embodied the true unbridled zeal and unflagging spirit of the city and played a pivotal role in the evolution of Mumbai as the modern day business capital of India. And then it suddenly was as if they never existed. Following the mill workers strike in the mid 80s, these mills began closing down rapidly and the mill workers mysteriously disappeared. What happened to them, and where they went is one of the most shameful secrets that the city of Mumbai will have to bear for generations, one that until now has always been spoken about in hushed whispers.
City of Gold the story of these long forgotten masses not only explores the apathy of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, but is also a take no prisoners account of the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai. The film traces the birth of the politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the unholy collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers.
In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Mumbai was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth, and this began the systematic extinction of mills in Mumbai. In a matter of just a few years, hundreds of thousands of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew. Many left Mumbai and went back to their ancestral homes, some others chose to stay back and fight what they soon realised was a losing battle, some took the extreme step of ending their miserable lives, and still some others took to a world of crime.
Truth… as is said, is stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film uncovers is not just stranger but darker and dirtier than any mind has ever imagined. Produced by DAR Motion Pictures and from the Director of dark and realistic films like Vaastav Mr Mahesh Manjrekar, 'City of Gold' takes another trip down memory lane.... just that this time around the result is a much more heart wrenching, soul stirring and shocking film about human avarice and apathy. The film doesn't provide any direct solutions. Yet it shatters many a myth and raises many a question which only the passage of time will provide answers to..........
Sure, the concept is nice. But, the nice stuff stops there. I'm not at all passing a moral judgement on the characters' lack of character. It's just the loud and annoying way in which things play out that gets on your nerves after about an hour. And there is another 1.5 hours to go.
So basically, it is something to watch if you have nothing better to do.
The film has its heart in the right place but the viewpoint is biased. Singular rather. It is from a singular perspective that the maker tells his story and inevitably the breadth and the impact is narrow. The trajectory the life of the Dhuri family takes is deeply disturbing and the constant agony of their suffering is palpable. But the film takes an emotional stand alone, refusing to engage in the politics of the times. This reduces the import of the film from a heart-felt social comment to a mere delineation of the after-effects, an approach that takes away from the tragedy that was real and changed the economy, face and soul of Mumbai.
'City of Gold' intended to reflect upon the harsh realities which surround many of the 'elite' malls which have sprung up in Mumbai lately. However execution did not match their intention, where the story focuses mainly on one family, their neighborhood, daily travails as they struggle to make ends meet in times when the mill owners conspire to throw the workers out of jobs and close down the mills so as to benefit from the huge increase in the property prices.
However we see more of the daily family feuds and less on the realities which surround the mills of those years. The reason they were losing profits is never dwelt upon. Although we all know that most mills ended up in becoming malls, the film never shows us any example. Few will know about 'Phoenix Mills' who dont live in Mumbai.
All in all, a good film which does a great job in exposing the mill owners-builders-politician nexus, and makes us spare a thought about the plight of those workers whom nobody seems to remember.