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Maximum City - Mumbai

Mumbai - The City of Dreams - India’s financial hub and home to one of the largest film industries of the world.

For someone who’s not used to a city like Mumbai, with its traffic jams, bumper to bumper off lane driving, continuous blasting of horns, thin lanes, crowded public transport and people everywhere, it can be a bit too much to handle initially. Give it a chance, and the city will enthral you with its vibrance. There’s definitely some order in this chaos and there’s so much to film here; so many stories to be told, places to be explored. One would think filming in this Metropolis where various simultaneous shoots happen daily, it would be a cake walk. Au contraire, there are many things to keep in mind.

For starters, expect a bigger sized crew than you’d like. While these are as per Union rules, in all practicality this is the Industry’s way of providing employment.

Most of the equipment is easily available if booked in time and every piece of group of equipment comes with a couple of attendants. Each one of them has a defined role and they carry out their responsibilities pretty efficiently. There’s no dearth of talent here. In fact, we have some of the best technicians as per international standards. You can trust us to offer you the best crew in all departments.

If you’re looking at hiring equipment yourself, it’s imperative that you understand what’s at play here. There are multiple vendors with commonly used equipment. Be sure to hire from someone you know very well. Better to be safe than sorry later because lower costs could also mean faulty pieces. There are also hi end equipment suppliers who will charge you a premium and give you quality equipment. If you have budget constraints then your safest option is to hire a local Producer who will take over the responsibility of quality and efficiency.

Capturing the essence of Mumbai’s streets, cafes, Victorian buildings, monuments, sea fronts, beaches, wall murals, markets, busy streets is a thrilling experience but all of this comes at a cost - a pretty high one at that. One needs to apply for permissions from a couple of local offices so it’s best to plan this in advance. In our experience however, with the restricted budgets for documentary films, we do manage this task without going through official routes and that happens only when the crew properly follows the instructions from our Production team.

Street food in Mumbai can be quite enticing. As much as we discourage our international crew from going on local culinary adventures, more often than not, we do get ‘rebels’ who love to defy the laws of (street food) nature and indulge in gastronimcal experiments much to the delight of the roadside ‘chefs’.

So far so good! Strong bellies have survived; for the weak, expect the India Producer to take the role of an in-house doctor supplying vials of probiotic to settle the chaos within. Food in restaurants and cafes are safe though and really tasty. Our team always has handy, a list of good places to eat at. Indian food is such a delight! Try eating it without a knife and fork. It tastes better and we cook & serve with love.

A melting pot of various cultures, Mumbai has a vibe of its own. People who come here searching for work, settle into that vibe pretty quickly. Travel North or South or towards the East, say hi to a complete stranger and they stare at you as if you’re an alien from outer space. Not so much in Mumbai. Your smile will be returned with a bigger smile and your hellos will have people starting conversations with you.

Late Yash Chopra, one of India’s finest film makers once said, “Mumbai is infectious. Once you start living in Mumbai, working in Mumbai, you can’t think of living anywhere else.” That indeed is true… You will be drawn back to Mumbai again and again.

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