Maritime Mumbai – An Odyssey – A documentary film

Title: Maritime Mumbai – An Odyssey

Movie Type: Documentary, Non-Fiction

Premiere Date: January 20, 2019

Director: Saket Behl

Executive Producer: Abhay Deo

Genre: Historical

My rating: 5/5

Summary:

The movie is a documentary film based on Mumbai, its geographical importance, it’s history and the evolution of Naval base.

My take:

When we got an invitation to this movie premiere, we thought it to depict the importance of Mumbai Naval Base. Little did we know we would just be soaking in the information provided in this movie for days together. Even as I write this blog, I am still mesmerised by what I saw on the big screen. I would like to thank Abhay Deo immensely, my brother, for giving us an opportunity to witness this marvellous visual and intellectual treat.

Auditorium where the film was premiered

The premiere was scheduled at Navy Nagar in Colaba part of Mumbai where Honourable Governer of Maharastra inaugrated the documentary. It was such an honourable moment to be witnessing the history in presence of such respectable people. I was already a fan of discipline of our nation’s defence personnel, be it Army, Air Force or Navy, but post attending the event i am simply gaga about it. The entire event was so well organised that everything went on smoothly without a single glitch (ofcourse I can imagine the efforts that went in making the event successful).

Coming to the documentary part, I am short of words to describe the 45 mins odd film. The film is all about the history of how Mumbai became what it is today, from a place with scattered 7 islands to a single landmass and how it became the financial hub of India. It was astonishing to know so many facets about this place which I call my home since past 30 years.

I won’t deny that I was aware of the place being a consolidation of numerous islands but I certainly was not aware of how the consolidation was done. I was ecstatic to know about the criticality of Bassein Fort where I previously resided. History of so many places, the structures in Mumbai which are still existing is simply jaw dropping.

While I knew that Portugese took over the Mumbai Islands, but what I was not aware of was the changing of hands by signing treaties. Surat was an important port which was changed to Mumbai due to efforts of the great ruler Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The research work that was done for the movie was simply phenomenal. The movie gives one so many things to ponder upon, to think about the historical events that once happened at the place where we are standing right now.

The picturisation of the events which enabled a person to visualise the sequence of events were definitely praiseworthy. The film deserves to be a part of Discovery or History channels. My secret wish was fulfilled when at the end of documentary, H’ble Governer declared that this documentary will be shown at all the Schools and Colleges of the state. That was just the perfect ending to this historical masterpiece which I recommend to all the history lovers. I would end this blog by a round of applause for the entire team involved in making and presenting this commendable film.

P.s. Would love to have a DVD in my collection once it’s out in market.

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