City of Gold

Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Starring: Shashank Shende, Seema Biswas, Ankush Choudhary
Run time: 145 mins | Recommended Certificate: 18
Language: Hindi. Marathi, English | Year: 2010 | Country: India

Set at a similar time as Slum Dog Millionaire, this is a powerful tale about a great time of change in Mumbai – regarded by many as the ‘City of Gold’. The Dhuri family of mill workers, headed by their strong-willed mother, played by the great Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen), live on the edge of the slums. They struggle to survive the abyss of poverty as Mumbai’s great mills are struck down by political corruption and commercial greed, to make way for glittering new shopping malls and 5 star hotels. As dad looses his job and they tip into the abyss, the young sons and daughters must all make heart-wrenching decisions to save the family: mixing with the darker side of under-world power; and trying to marry themselves off to men with jobs. None is as great as that of budding writer son, Baba, who is un-able to sell his scripts and makes an even more desperate sacrifice.