Filmmaker Kiran Rao Reflects on Capturing Mumbai's Chaos and Charm in Debut Film

In November 2025, acclaimed filmmaker Kiran Rao reflected on the making of her debut film Dhobi Ghat: Mumbai Diaries, which explored the diverse and layered urban landscape of India's financial capital. Rao, who first came to Mumbai as a student, shared how she aimed to capture the city's unique pulse and energy in her 2011 film.

"When I was writing it, I was trying to say how does one actually write the story of a city that is so diverse and heterogeneous," Rao explained. She noted that unlike the vertical divisions in Delhi, Mumbai's different elements are "sort of layered one on top of the other," with "overlaps and intersections that you can't avoid."

Rao's early experiences in Mumbai, where she would take buses to South Mumbai and walk the streets on Sundays, observing the "life of the mind and the life of labour," inspired her approach. "There's an air of hope and expectation, and dreams and aspirations. How do you capture that?" she said. Rao ultimately told Mumbai's story through four different perspectives and visual styles, reflecting the city's unpredictable nature.

"It's like a puzzle that has no real final answer. But that worked because that is the city for me. It could go any which way. Here, everything is an opportunity, and anything can bring your dreams to crash down," Rao remarked.