An outsider’s view of Mumbai
Over the years, Mumbai has always been an endearing canvas for many film-makers. Now, the makers of Meri Pyaari Bindu have also used Maximum City to capture the romance between Ayushmann Khurrana (right) and
Parineeti Chopra’s (far right) characters in their new song, Afeemi.
In fact, to build on the romance in the song, director Akshay Roy drew on his own experiences in Mumbai, and has captured the city in all its splendour. The video shows places such as Marine Drive, Nariman Point, the Arabian Sea, as well as scenes of the famous Mumbai monsoon. “In the song, I’ve tried to show the characters’ journey through the lens of an outsider. I’m sure it’s something that many can relate to,” says Roy.
Ask Parineeti about her memories of Mumbai as an ‘outsider’, and she says, “For me, my favourite memories are driving on Marine Drive in the middle of the night, or just sitting at Nariman Point by the sea for hours and having hot chocolate milk from the cyclewaalah uncle.”
Parineeti admits that she has grown up looking at pictures of places such as Marine Drive, Nariman Point and the town. “They are all pictures that I had seen of Mumbai all my life. So, every night, when there’s no traffic, I would drive there with my friends, sit there and think about life and our dreams,” she says.
For Ayushmann, as an outsider, it was “amazing to see the infectious energy of the city”. “Coming from a relatively smaller city like Chandigarh, where everybody goes to bed by 11pm, I was instantly fascinated by Mumbai, where sleeplessness is the norm. It was so contagious, that it transformed the laid-back person in me into a night person. I was also surprised to see the traffic jams at midnight (smiles),” he says.