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The strength of ‘Mumbai Cutting’ is the roster of directors who have joined together to create this experience.

Highlighting an issue: Revathy’s ‘Parcel’ is about human trafficking.

Mumbai is always alive, forever ticking, vibrant. The city gives wings to dreams for millions; it exudes an unflagging spirit, one that gives it a character, a method amidst all the madness.

Eleven directors unfold flashes of Mumbai in a meaningful film – ‘Mumbai Cutting.’ These directors, who wrote their own scripts, present in 11 short films of 10 minutes each varied facets of the metropolis.

What comes to mind is Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Dus Kahaniyaan.’ But Niyati Shah, who makes her debut as producer through ‘Mumbai Cutting,’ does not agree.

“Similarities are few. In fact, there are greater dissimilarities. ‘Dus Kahaniyaan’ was based on 10 stories of different topics. But our project has a common thread, which is the city itself. Linking the various stories is Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay’s line-up of directors are completely different from mine, they speak a different film language,” says Niyati in an e-mail interview. Her White Clouds Productions, backed by Sahara Motion Pictures, realised this project.

What was Niyati’s inspiration for such a project? “I was working for a broadband company. There was stiff competition to get more and more people interested in using broadband. For this we were always on the prowl for new ideas. That was when I thought of short films.

“The idea remained even though I left the company. I approached Sudhir (Mishra) first and he agreed. Soon, we had roped in some of the most prominent filmmakers, so we decided to turn this into a feature. We only wanted those who, we thought, would do justice to short films.”

The strength of ‘Mumbai Cutting’ is the roster of directors who have joined together to create this experience.

Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap, Rituparno Ghosh, Revathy, Kundan Shah, Jahnu Baruwa, Rahul Dholakia, Shashanka Ghosh, Manish Jha, Ruchi Narain and newcomer Ayush Raina interpret Mumbai in their special style.

‘Mumbai Cutting’ was premiered at the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) where it was screened as the closing night film.

Eight of the 11 top directors of the country were present and got a rousing response from the celebrity audience who watched the film at Arclights Hollywood.

Revathy seems to have fallen in love with Mumbai all over again. Her film titled ‘Parcel’ is about human trafficking. It is about a day in the life of a woman who comes to the city in the morning and leaves at night.

“I’ve shown a facet of Mumbai where human rights are taken for granted by the victims of injustice and where sexual favours are just a way of life, not an eyebrow-raising issue. The film was well accepted by the audience. But my vote is for Anurag’s film, which is a master piece,” says Revathy.

Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Pramodbhai 23’ is based on his experiences while working in juvenile homes. The film is a narrative by Pramodbhai and is about a child in a remand home who has the habit of making up stories to gain attention.

Ayush Raina, makes an impressive debut with his film ‘Bombay High.’

‘Mumbai Cutting’ also has a fine star cast. It includes Soha Ali Khan, Sonali Kulkarni, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Deepak Dobriyal, Tejaswini Kohlapuri, Ranvijay, Sushant Singh, Tara Sharma, Sachin Khedekar, Neetu Chandra, Jimmy Shergill, Samreen Zaidi and Palash Sen.

Another feature of the film is its excellent music. Music by Shantanu Moitra, Indian Ocean, Euphoria, Papon, Ali Azmat, Sanjeev Srivastav, the Pakistani band Fuzon featuring singers Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shafaqat Ali among others is sure to set the audience rocking.

‘Mumbai Cutting’ will hit Indian theatres in June.

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