Get a taste of Mumbai through the lens of filmmaker Basu Chatterjee

Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee in the film, Manzil (1979) by Chatterjee. Pic Courtesy/Youtube

Last Sunday evening, crowds along Juhu Beach converged as they ran for cover from a passing shower. Huddled under a gazebo with a group of about 50 people waiting for the intensity of the rain to lessen, two things struck this writer; that no one carried an umbrella during the monsoons and that it felt a lot like a scene from filmmaker Basu Chatterjee's 1979 Manzil when Moushumi Chatterjee and Amitabh Bachchan, who didn't carry an umbrella either, ran through the rain at Marine Drive. Can we still find pieces of Bombay within other parts of Mumbai?

Cafe Samovar (above) featured in the film, Chhoti Si Baat. File Pics

In a bid to imagine the city, then Bombay, in the 1970s and '80s as the filmmaker portrayed it, Eshan Sharma, founder of Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative introduces the first edition of Basu Da's Bombay this weekend. The four-km walk traces locations where Chatterjee's films were shot, using them as a standpoint to explore the city's heritage, architecture, social-cultural and ethnographic fabric, and talk about how the city was portrayed then and now in Indian cinema.

As films like Manzil, Hamari Shaadi and Baton Baton Mein featured Marine Drive almost as a character, the walk too will start off here with halts along Flora Fountain, Horniman Circle, Jehangir Art Gallery and other locations before concluding at Gateway of India. Combining his love for films and history, Sharma plans to unpack the city's history of architecture including the Victorian, Gothic and Art Deco styles of architecture as seen in structures like Soona Mahal that houses Pizza By The Bay, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the heritage buildings near Lion Gate, and the Bombay High Court. Near Horniman Circle, he will dive into the history of the Asiatic Society; at Jehangir Art Gallery, the guide looks to draw up mental images of Café Samovar, where a scene from Chhoti Si Baat was shot, and which was once the hub of the city's culture icons.

The Asiatic Library

"For a Gen-Z like me, it is difficult to imagine what Mumbai looked like in the 1980s. One window to get a taste of Mumbai then is through films," Vadodara-based Sharma shares, adding that the way Chatterjee, or Basu Da, told stories of different communities, culture, and locations was unique. For instance, Chatterjee's film Baton Baton Mein showcased the chaos of the city, Piya Ka Ghar highlights the issues of finding space in the city, and Khatta Meetha portrayed a community in a non-stereotypical way. "For Basu Da, Bombay was a city where dreams and reality come together. We will explore this city as it is in the memories of Mumbaikars," he concludes.

Eshan Sharma

On: August 26 and 27; 8 am onwards
Meeting point: Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Fort. LOG ON TO linktr.ee/karwaanheritage call 9559226206
Cost: Rs 600 (Rs 300 for students)