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Starring: Karan Patel, Vineet Kumar, Sameer
Dharmadhikari, Kashmira Shah, Satish Kaushik, Ganesh
Yadav, Sachin Khedekar, Seema Biswas, Ankush Choudhary
Director - Mahesh Manjrekar
Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar who directed the realistic
film Vaastav, 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.
Today, there is hardly anyone who has not visited the
swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs
and other such lifestyle destinations that have sprung
up across the central part of Mumbai.
In just few years, lakhs 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
realized was a losing battle. Some took the extreme step
of ending their miserable lives, and still some others
took to a world of crime.
The film zooms in on the story of one such millworker's
family and how their fortunes nosedive post the strike.
The Dhuri family headed by Ana (Shashank Shende) and Aai (Seema
Biswas), try hard to keep their family together which
consists of three sons, and a daughter.
Post the mill workers strike, as the events unfold Aai
(the mother) tries to bind her family together even when
there is just about nothing left to hold on to. The mill
workers are lead to ruin by the owners.
Credits & Crew:
Banner - Dar Motion Pictures
Producer - Arun Rangachari
Director - Mahesh Manjrekar
Story Writers - Mahesh Manjrekar, Jayant Pawar
Executive Producer / Co-Producers - Om Raut, Vivek
Rangachari, Nikhil D'Rozario
Screenplay - Mahesh Manjrekar, Jayant Pawar
Dialogue - Jayant Pawar, Abhijit Deshpande
Lyricist - Srirang Godbole
Music Director - Ajit Parab
Cinematography - Ajit Reddy
Action - Pradyuman Kumar
Art - Prashant Rane
Editor - Sarvesh Parab
Costumes - Laxman Gollar
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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 in 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
mils 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 is the story of these long forgotten masses.
It 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
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 thus began the systematic
extinction of mills in Mumbai.
Truth, as it is said, is
stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film
uncovers is not stranger, but darker and dirtier than any
mind has ever imagined.
This film does not provide any
direct solutions; in fact it ends on a despairing note.
There are gutsy and gritty performances by Seema Biswas,
Sachin Khedekar and they are supported brilliantly by
Siddharth Jadhav, Veena Jamkar, Ganesh Yadav, Satish
Kaushik and Kashmeera. Karan Patel as Naru is a fine
discovery and an actor to watch out for.
City of Gold is a hard-hitting and thought provoking film
by Mahesh Manjrekar.
Cast
Karan Patel - Naru
Vineet Kumar - Mohan
Sameer Dharmadhikari - Mahendra
Kashmira Shah - Mami
Satish Kaushik - Mama
Ganesh Yadav - Parshya Bhai
Sachin Khedekar - Rane
Seema Biswas - Aai
Ankush Choudhary - Baba
Siddharth Jadhav - Speedbreaker
Veena Jamkar - Manju
Shashank Shende - Anna
Anousha Dandekar
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