India has an insane amount of visual and auditory media to consume, Bollywood produces ~3-4x the number of films as Hollywood does on a yearly basis, a lot of them are absolute bangers.

Films & Series (Mumbai edition)

  • The Lunchbox - the (box) dabbawala romance; you’ll spot the real dabbawalas at Churchgate station around noon.
  • Gully Boy — Mumbai hip-hop, shot around Dharavi and Versova. Insanely good music!
  • 3 Idiots - a movie about the indian education and expectation system
  • Hotel Mumbai - About the terror attacks in mumbai
  • The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Most of what you’ll feel traveling to India is captured here
  • Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson directed comedy-drama set in India
  • Kapoor and sons - A family drama with very a light hearted core
  • Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani - Romcom
  • Wake Up Sid - A coming of age movie about how a rich kid grows up
  • Jaane tu .. Ya jaane na - Romcom with cute characters
  • Little things - My favorite web mini-series about a couple in Mumbai living their lives

Books

  • Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts) — the backpacker classic; take with massive grain of salt, enjoy anyway. Don’t worry, The Mumbai of the book mostly exists in history.
  • A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) — heavier, unforgettable.
  • White tiger (Aravind Adiga) - Captures the unspoken voices of India

Music

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