There are several effective metaphors that best describe a human’s relationship with the conundrum of a city that is Mumbai. The sea, the towering sky-lines and of course, its local trains teeming with people. Indeed, Mumbai’s local trains seem to hold secrets, stories, and an untapped allure that it has collected over decades.
In the year 2003, screenwriter and cinematographer, Nidhi Tuli set out on a rather interesting journey to collect conversations, moments, and the unlikely pauses that one experiences on a Mumbai local train. What sets Tuli’s documentary apart is that the story revolves around the lives of women commuters on the local train dedicated entirely to women called the Ladies Special.
The film which was aired by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) captures candid and unrehearsed moments of humour, struggles and solidarities shared by women commuters. Throughout its 28-minute long run, Ladies Special offers very little bias while allowing the conversations, silent montages, and the layering of sounds, voices and noises to dictate the story.
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