Between the unnerving November 26 terror attacks and nervy Slumdog Millionaire there is a mood of Mumbai that has been captured strikingly by my veteran news photographer friend Chandu Mhatre. Chandu has recently created a photo gallery online to sell his prints at www.iconphotos.net
I had written about this sometime ago. I am doing so again for those whose interest in the city may have been heightened by the ever-growing success of Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ Like all great cities Mumbai too lives in many layers. One can choose to focus on one layer and can be partially right about it. Boyle’s plot largely unfolds on the layer which most Mumbaikars are either embarrassed, apathetic, indifferent, angry or all four about.
Chandu’s photos chronicle the Mumbai whose self-assurance has galloped in the last decade even beyond what it was always known for. The city has always been unconscious of its strengths and weaknesses. But with the economic success of the last decade and half has freed it up even more.
I strongly recommend that you go to Chandu’s site and order prints of your choice.