As an on-ground exploration of our Spotlight Sea of Stories in July 2022, Sarmaya organised a unique heritage walk in Mumbai led by Akanksha Gupta. The documentary filmmaker took a small group of our guests on a 90-minute walk through parts of South Mumbai as she traced the routes that water takes to reach our homes. It was a fresh lens through which to understand the Maximum City, one that touched upon its colonial past, centuries of migration, politics and water mafia, and issues of citizenship.
Akanksha Gupta is a documentary filmmaker who is simply fascinated by the complexities that a city comprises. While there is chaos, nothing is random. Everything has a story, a past and a consequence. Her films explore these ideas. Designing this walk was an extension of Akanksha’s exploration of cities, systems, politics and people.