Mumbai, on the west
coast of India. Once called
Bombay, this megacity has become
India’s economic powerhouse. The city’s population
is exploding. In 1951, Mumbai had a
population of just 3 million. Today that number has
skyrocketed to 20 million. And it is only
increasing. And as space
grows scarce, hundreds of high-rises
are being bult — mostly luxury apartments
for the super-rich. But making room for these
new buildings means tearing down hundreds of
hectares of Mumbai’s slums. Bharat Duppar is
a contractor. For such a
beautiful view, we’ll have to clear
out more slums. Mumbai is a city both
hungry for success and struggling
for survival. For many, this megacity is the
embodiment of the Indian Dream. Mumbai. India’s economic and
financial centre. Over 20 million
people live here. Traffic jams, sometimes
stretching for kilometres, bring city life
to a stand still. Millions commute by
train every day. However, the city’s railway
system only has four lines. During the rush hour,
stations become very crowded. The platforms are filled
well beyond capacity, mostly with male
passengers. There’s the
train. Every morning Vinit,
a young accountant, spends 90 minutes
commuting. It’s here in
a minute. You need to elbow your way through
just to get on the train. Empty seats are
hard to come by. It’s
annoying. Every day you have to fight
your way through the crowd. Sometimes you can't
even get to the doors. Some are pushing in,
others push their way out. Sometimes I have to let two
or three trains go by. The fans are not
powerful enough. It's almost 45
degrees inside. But despite the crowding,
these insurance clerks, lawyers and bankers
are in a good mood. We’re enjoying
every day. It is not that
difficult! We are enjoying
our journey. It’s really warm
this morning, but that’s pretty
normal for us. But just because this commute
is ?normal“ or routine, does not mean it
is always safe. Accidents often occur when
passengers try to cling to the carriages or are
pushed out of them. This woman could
have died. Fortunately another passenger
was able to reach her. Vinit arrives at
his destination. “When you get to work you’re
pretty exhausted, right?” Yes, very
exhausted. I need half an hour’s
rest when I get there. Every year around
6,000 people lose their lives on the
tracks in Mumbai. Samir Zaveri
miraculously survived. In the 90s he lost both
legs in a tragic accident. The station’s
entrance was full so I crossed over the
tracks and slipped. Fortunately, I was not lying
with my upper body on the rails. Suddenly a train came
and ran over my legs. Some people took me to
the nearest hospital. They stopped
my bleeding pretty quickly and
saved my life. Samir Zaveri has
been campaigning for safer train travel
ever since. These trains are carrying
three or four times as many passengers
as the legal limit. First off, I am demanding
that all trains have doors that remain closed
during the journey. Secondly, I am fighting for free
medical care in case of accidents, paid by the
government. The city is building
three more lines to improve commuting
conditions. But there are even more challenges
ahead for this megacity. Dharavi is a slum right
in the heart of Mumbai. It is considered the
largest slum in Asia. Nearly 1 million people live
here on 2 square kilometres. The power
grid is weak, water is only available
for two hours a day and there is no
sewage system. Poverty is
everywhere. But Dharavi’s locals have
adapted to these conditions, developing their own
infrastructure. These workers use the
limited space they have to disassemble cars
in tiny workshops. Or tailor
clothes. Keep
going ? just a little
further. Mahesh is 27 and
grew up in Dharavi . This morning he receives valuable
goods plastic canisters. Mahesh makes his
living from the waste plastic of
the megacity. Mumbai used to be
really filthy. There was garbage and plastic
waste all over the place. Now we're
cleaning it up. We collect the bottles
that are thrown everywhere and we recycle
them. His recycling business
has 25 employees. For 200
rupees a day, the equivalent of
just under two euros, they sort the plastic
waste by colour and type. For the white plastic
bottles, for example, we get up to 20
rupees per kilo. With that we pay the
wages and bills. I can even put a
little of it aside. Once it’s all sorted, workers
shred the plastic by hand — for the equivalent
of five euros a day. They do not wear
protective clothing. The end result is a granulate
that is delivered to wholesalers for
further processing. Are you guys done or
is anything left? There are thousands of
recycling plants in Dharavi. Most of the city's plastic
waste gets sorted in the slum. Dharavi is actually
quite big. Lots of people live here
and run businesses. They raise their kids and
take care of their families. It’s difficult for
businesses to pay taxes. Still, people
manage to get by. Mahesh earns the equivalent
of 500 euros a month. That’s pretty
average in Mumbai, but it’s around ten times as
much as in the rest of India. He lives with his parents in
this 5 square metre home. Tough living conditions,
but it’s fine for Mahesh. We have really changed this
neighbourhood for the better. We used to have
wooden walls here, now we have
real bricks. We took out loans to
build this house. We have water,
electricity. Everything
we need. Mahesh and his family own
this entire building. They go up to the second floor
with a ladder and a rope. This floor is also
part of my building. I rent
it out. As long as
people work, they live here
and pay us rent. Workers also rent
the second floor. There is a sewing shop
on the top floor. His rentals bring in the
equivalent of 200 euros a month. Dharavi’s small-scale businesses
generate the equivalent of more than 800 million
euros per year. Dharavi first garnered
international attention as the setting
of the film. "Slumdog
Millionaire.” It tells the story of a
young man who becomes rich after appearing
on a game show. The film's success
turned the slum into a bit of a tourist
attraction For many
travellers, it’s a unique opportunity to pick
up some locally made products. Like in this
leather boutique. The bags on offer here carry
the Dhavari brand name. How much
is it? 3200
rupees. This tourist
is from China. You feel like you’re
in a normal store. Everybody
is smiling. I’m really surprised
how people can live in such a harsh
environment. It is made of Nubuck Leather
and costs 3500 rupees. We accept credit cards,
dollars, euros, all currencies. Also
cash. Imran is proud to sell his
neighbourhood’s brand. It's a slum, but a
very unique one. Actually it’s like
a huge business. People make ends meet,
don't become criminals, and want to get
ahead in life. Just like
all of us. Our goal is to make the "Dharavi"
brand more popular than American brands like Michael
Kors or Jimmy Choo. In total, Imran
employs 40 people to tan and dye
the leather. Is everything
OK? Imran's father Wahaz started
the family business when he came to
Mumbai in the 1970s — hoping for a
better life. I worked very hard, that's
just the way it was. My hands hurt a lot, I
couldn't sleep at night. I was very
poor. I came from a village and only
had a hundred rupees with me. But with hard work I
achieved all this. The family moved to
the top floor of this modern high-rise
building in 2016. Right in the middle
of the slum. The price, The equivalent
of 300,000 euros for 70 square meters
and a good view. Here is the master bedroom,
for my father and mother. I sleep in the
small room here. I’ll show you how
we set it up. I’ve worked very
hard on this house. Imran and his family are among
Mumbai’s privileged few. They have
running water. Running water
24 hours a day. Has your dream
come true? Yes, my dream
came true. The young entrepreneur
is proud of belonging to the small circle
of Mumbai's elite. Most celebrities
and politicians live up in the
skyscrapers because they have the
money for it. It is a major
sign of success. Everyone dreams of
living at the top. In Mumbai, the higher up you
live, the richer you are. Down below, the city is
choking on air pollution. The noise is
incessant. But for those living
above the city, there is only
silence. When you can afford a penthouse
high atop a skyscraper, you get peace
and quiet. “Good
Morning” That’s good
for London. Babulal Varma is a
building contractor. He lives in this 250-square-meter
luxury apartment with his wife and
two children. Time to
eat! The domestic-staff serves
breakfast every morning. Sit facing
each other. Babulal Varma is originally from
Rajasthan, in northern India. He settled in Mumbai
in the early 2000s. Building is
in my blood — I got it from my father
and my grandfather. We have been in this business
for more than a hundred years. Just take a look
around Rajasthan. My great-grandfather built
most of the palaces there. Why did you decide
to come to Mumbai? Mumbai is growing
so quickly. Everyone wants to make
a profit from it. It has huge
potential. The entrepreneur built his first
residential tower in 2003. Today he is involved
in countless construction projects
across Mumbai. I know it
takes time. So you'd better
start early. We build a lot
of skyscrapers. My business partners and I have
already built over 35 of them, with more than
50 floors. Why do you need
to build so high? Because there is no
space in Mumbai. We are surrounded by
water on three sides. With the population
growing every day, the only solution is
to build upwards. In order to create
more space, the entrepreneur is taking
a radical approach, tearing down hundreds of
hectares of the slums. We have already started over
here, next to the bridge. Come back in one
or two years and there’ll be some
beautiful building here. His goal is to make the
Dharavi slum disappear. Everyone knows Dharavi because of
the movie Slumdog Millionaire. It’s in the heart
of the city. But if your heart is sick,
it doesn’t do you any good. The headquarters of the
construction company — with its 800
employees, it is one of the largest companies
in India to specialize in “slum
rehabilitation.” Oh, Mr. Palival
is here. To buy a
hotel?. Today, they are discussing one
of their biggest projects. So this is up
and running ? The top part is
still missing. Everything
else is ready. The school is
a problem. We have to take
care of that. But before construction
work can begin, the company must
convince local Dharavi residents to
leave their homes. We’re in the process of clearing
out 65 hectares of the slum. We’ll build
shopping centres, offices and apartments
in their place. Hundreds of hectares
of slums in total have already
been demolished. Our conversation
was interesting, but we’re not
finished yet, OK? Life, protected from
the outside world. Bharat Dhuppar is
managing director of the construction
company. We’ve already cleaned
some things up, but there’s still
a lot to do. We’ll have to clear out some
more slums to get this view. However, the developers
are required, by law, to find new homes for the
former slum residents. This program builds
proper homes for the people who had
to leave the slums. We build the houses
they will move into. This is how poor people
get housing for free. We sell off the
other buildings. What do these
apartments look like? The company has another
redevelopment project in Worli, a neighbourhood in
the heart of Mumbai. Three luxury towers,
250 meters high. Meanwhile the former slum residents
down below live in cramped, dilapidated properties with only
a few square metres of space. We supported the
developers, Babulal Varma and his
colleague, at first. But they have not
treated us fairly. It’s been 12 years, and
almost nothing has happened. We still don’t have
a road, a garden. It’s
unacceptable. Despite the many promises
made by developers there are still no
schools or stores. Only construction
sites. No one feels
responsible. Who should
we turn to? Suddenly Omkar, the
company's press officer, interrupts the
interview. Dissatisfied residents airing their
grievances are frowned upon. Shooting will only take
place on the upper floor, under the press
officer’s watchful eye. He chooses a family of 6 to
live in two 29 square meter rooms free
of charge. Assuming that the camera team
would not understand him, the press officer
tells the father of the family what
to say on camera. No thanks, not for me.
I am a diabetic. Say, "When I was my son's
age, I grew up in a slum. My parents did their best
to give me an education and now I want a comfortable
life for my children. The man repeats what
he’s been told to say. When I was as young as my
son, I lived in a slum. Today we live in a
nice apartment. Thanks to Omkar, our
life is better now. We live in a good
neighbourhood and my son will also have a
good education. He wanted to be
an engineer? But now he’d rather
join the police. But not every family is
given a flat like this. The prerequisite is
having to have spent at least 20 years
in a slum. But what happens
to people who don’t meet this
requirement? They are sent to live
in a housing project on the outskirts
of town, like the one at
Lallubhai Compound. 8000 families live in
this very small area, in these crowded
blocks of flats. Even though they
were built in 2003, they are already
rundown. Just outside the
neighbourhood, wastewater drains
into an open sewer. In 2013, authorities levelled
a section of Dharavi, displacing 200
families living there, forcing them to relocate
to these buildings. Now, Abdul and his family of six
call this single room “home” They destroyed
our home. We were forced
to come here. We were totally
unprepared when we got our
eviction notice. Abdul ran a small
store in Dharavi. Today he works as a
courier and earns only half as much
as he used to. We don't feel as comfortable
here as we did in Dharavi . This family of scrap dealers misses
their old neighbourhood too. Three generations share
this 29 square metre home. This is where our
family lives, this is our room and
these are our things. Sardar is furious
at the authorities. I have nine kids,
here are my parents, my brother and
his wife. Altogether that’s
16, 17 people. How can we live in
a place like this? And where do
you all sleep? Some of us sleep
under the bed, others on the bed
in the kitchen, wherever
there’s space. It’s not
easy. But renovating the slums doesn’t
put an end to the misery, it just moves
it elsewhere. In January of 2021, there is
a surprising turn of events. Contractor Babulal
Varma is arrested for fraud and
embezzlement. People from all over India
move to Mumbai everyday. Many find work in the
city’s winding back alleys. They work as barbers,
tailors, or in food stalls. And some of them as
food delivery cyclists. Delivery services
have been popular for more
than a century. Shankar works
as a dabbawala. He, like 5,000
other dabbawalas throughout Mumbai,
delivers lunches. Lots of dabbawalas
have accidents. Of course that
scares me. Especially with
this crazy traffic. As soon as he
gets the bags Shankar meets up
with his colleagues. Give me the empties, take
the full ones, let’s go! Each of them has a
specific delivery route. Depending on where
they’re going, they swap baskets and keep
track of each other — all without
navigation apps. They mark each bag with a
code of numbers and letters. Most Dabbawalas
are illiterate. But they can
decipher the codes. These containers
come to me, I have to remember
the numbers, like this
one, 7, 2, 1. Then we know where
it’s going. The Dabbawalas’ coding
system is so efficient and well structured that it
has even caught the attention of researchers at
Harvard University. Carrying 30 kilograms in
45 degree heat means that every pedal stroke
is pure torture. But these Dabbawalas
know how to keep themselves
motivated. And he
does it. This accountant pays
the equivalent of 10 euros a month for
Shankar's delivery service. Why have your
food delivered? Well housewives are
happy to make it. It’s fresh, warm
and very healthy. Shankar makes the equivalent
of 136 euros a month.... Come on, we'll
miss the train. Which is just a quarter of the
average salary in Mumbai. But dabbwala’s
do not simply choose this challenging
profession. They inherit it
from their fathers. First my grandfather
did it, then my father and
today, it’s my job. It took my dad
just a few days to show me
the ropes. Shankar and his
colleagues deliver 73 million meals
every year. Mumbai’s residents keep many
of its traditions alive. And yet this megacity stays
squarely focused on the future Mumbai’s constant
growth has pushed the city limits into
nature preserves. In northern Mumbai,
this urban expansion has already resulted in
clashes with local wildlife. Stretching across 100
square kilometres, the Sanjay Gandhi
National Park is surrounded by residential
neighbourhoods. These homes are
now encroaching upon the park’s
boundaries. And so leopards roam through these
residential areas at night, passing buildings and
crossing though parking lots. Attacks on dogs are
common but these animals also pose a
threat to humans. Ranjeet Jhadav has
been tracking predatory cats in the
park since 2014. Tie them up
over there! Ranjeet is a wildlife
photographer. So the photos’ll
be perfect. His pictures are seen
around the world. He and his team
go through the recording taken by
this camera trap This is a
leopard cub. A female. Go on,
go on... stop ! The footage reveals
just how brazenly leopards wander through
the community. We filmed people
walking right where a leopard had been just
a few minutes ago. They had
no idea. These leopards prowl around
these neighbourhoods, igniting fears
among locals. The Aarey Colony
neighbourhood is located right
next to the park. Here, a family of six
lives in constant fear. Krupa Thukar works in
the forestry office. Come here, I need to
talk to you guys. Kids, I have to tell you
something very important. When it gets dark, you
can’t go outside to play, especially you
little ones. But things don’t
always go as planned. You can tell your
kids hundreds of times not to
play outside. Sometimes they
won't listen. I keep telling my kids,
but they don't listen. The city government should
install streetlights to keep the leopards
away at night. The streetlights
also have to work. We’ve already
been telling you, for a month
and a half, that we have seen a
leopard in this area. And so far nothing’s
been done. Her colleague tries
to calm him down We will definitely take care
of the street lighting issue. But you’ll need to take care
of things on your end too. Especially if there
are no lamps, the children have to
come home by nightfall. Residents prefer a
more radical approach. You have to put these
animals in cages! Do you want to wait until
one of these leopards attacks a kid before
you do something? But if we lock
up the leopards, it doesn't mean that
others won’t come. The city is ordered to
set up a special unit to take care of the
predatory cats. After this bend up
ahead, we hit the slum. Concerned residents
have called in Operations Manager
Santosh Bhangne. They roam around
and attack dogs. Up ahead, a
little further. The group approaches
with caution. If you move
your torch, you’ll see the eyes
flash quickly. Hold them a
little higher. Those aren’t
dogs. Back
there? Those are dogs, but
the eyes behind them, those are
leopards. Despite the danger,
they encounter a man. Why are you walking
alone in the dark? If you’re out
at night, you should always have
a stick with you. I usually get off work
between 10pm and midnight. Of course I get scared
when I’m walking. But I don't have
any other choice. You have to make
some noise, then the leopards
run away. After a few minutes,
the silence returns. Leopards hunt
animals that are smaller than
them, like dogs. They are usually
harmless to us. Especially
adults. The ranger’s
presence seems to have driven the
leopards away. They’re dogs.
So keep going! Despite increased
security measures, leopards killed 159 people in the
state of Maharashtra in 2020. A record
number. This is how Muthuvel
and his wife lost their four-year-old
daughter. This is right where
it happened. This is where the
leopard dragged our daughter up the
hill with him. Darshani had been
playing in the dark in front of the
family's house. Her parents found her
remains just 10 days later. We found parts of our
daughter’s body, her hands, and
her legs. We also found
her head. She was wearing
nail polish. That's how we identified
our daughter. If a dog barks, I immediately
panic and close the doors. A leopard is
just an animal. But she was
our daughter! That leopard is
still out there. Muthuvel has lived in a constant
state of fear ever since. If a dog barks, I
immediately panic, close the doors and
don't let anyone out. The family is
still devastated Of course, a leopard is
just trying to survive. It’s an
animal. But she was
our daughter! There is a sanctuary
for leopards in the middle of
Sanjay Gandhi Park It looks like the cage
is not fully closed, but everything’s
OK. Mukesh More
looks after the 15 leopards captured
by his team. Each of those animals
attacked a human. They caught the leopard
in this cage in Nashik because it
attacked people. Then brought him
to our facility. All of them
killed children? Yes, they
did. An adult leopard weighs
only about 60 kilos, but it is an excellent
hunter and can easily take down prey weighing
up to 150 kilos. Near the city, it hunts mainly
livestock or domestic animals Mukesh More attributes
these attacks to the region’s
rapid urbanization. A lot of people
can get hurt in these clashes with
wild animals. All of this used to
covered by dense jungle. We should not be
invading their habitat. In Mumbai, this conflict
is coming to a head. The wild animals are adapting
to their new reality. Their numbers are
on the rise. It is impossible to
stop Mumbai from expanding
so rapidly. Experts project that it
will become the most populous city in
the world by 2050- with a population
of 40 million.
Video unavailable in India :(
WTF, I literally live here and it is not available for me. Will be glad if someone downloads and uploads for downloading.
Going higher doesn't mean it gets better. -Montgomery Tishole
The people living in the slums were industrious and contributing to the city and helping solve problems. They deserve better services, instead they were relocated by greedy developers who didn’t care about their livelihoods. Those apartments they were moved to seemed terrible compared to the slums. Interesting documentary, mind boggling how many people live there and how they make it work.
My brother just went here to get dental work down. American dentists wanted 80k USD for the same thing an Indian dentist charged 15k for.
Edit: He got his entire mouth replaced with cubic zirconia implants. They did such a good job we told him if he ever comes to America to let us know, he has free room and board for life!
You just know when they at the moment they call themself "Slum rehabilitation" that they are going to be some real evil dudes.
Well, they go through the lives of normal citizens, from the poorest to the richest, and in the end the richest guy gets arrested for corruption. That was an interesting plot twist
I watched this last week and it breaks my heart the way slums are viewed. They are of course rough and dirty but the people living there are resilient and innovative, they have their own levels of industry and economy! I think shipping them off to communist style tower blocks on the edge of town does them a huge disservice. You are taking them away from where they can be the most productive… maybe if the trains were better or they invested in industry, shops and gardens by these ugly towers the residents would at least have some chance at happiness?? Idk but how these rich people view the slums as something they need to “rehabilitate” (erase and sweep under a rug) makes me very sad…
seems like the problem could be the number of children couples are having -- in the documentary the interviewees had 6 kids, another nine. currently 22 million and climbing to 40 million.. in one city!