City of Gold Movie Preview Apnadesi Exclusive

Shashank Shende: Anna
Anna, the patriarch of the Dhuri family, epitomises the typical simple Maharashtrian mill worker, whose primary concern is the well being of his family. Having opted for voluntary retirement, in the hope of getting a sizeable remuneration, Anna does not realise there are larger forces outside his control that are guiding his and his family's destiny. He lives in denial and harbours hope that one day the mill strike would end and he would get his dues back.

Seema Biswas: Aai
The strong-willed and rock-like matriarch of the Dhuri family, Aai, is the backbone of the family trying desperately to pull it through the tough and chaotic times of the mill strike. As she single-handedly battles the emotional and financial burden, the crippling mill strike has brought to her family... this uneducated homemaker will stop at nothing to protect them.

Ankush Choudhary: Baba
A talented and budding writer and the eldest son of in the Dhuri family, Baba cuts a frustrated and angry figure as he feels that his family's economic woes stand in the way of his ambition of becoming a famous playwright. However, behind his perceived troubled and rude personality lies a caring and sensitive person. Even though a misfit in society with his very modern outlook and strong principles, he believes that one day he will fulfil his dreams- the right way!

Vineet Kumar: Mohan
On the surface of it this educated banker and cricket-crazy son seems to be the most mature and level-headed of the Dhuri children. However Mohan had not counted on the fact that his impetuous and gullible nature would one day lead him away from his once cocooned dreamy world, down a path he could have never imagined... including having a relationship with a married woman....

Veena Jamkar: Manju
In the same mould as her strong-willed mother, Manju stifles her ambition and dream for the sake of her family. Her zest for life fades away quickly as the magnitude of the financial and emotional woes of the family slowly dawns at her and eats away at the last vestiges of her innocence and self respect. Having seen her mother die a thousand deaths every day, Manju decides to write her own destiny full of beautiful dreams and marvellous future.

Karan Patel: Naru
This flamboyant and aggressive youngest son of the Dhuri familiy, thrives on living on the fast lane. He is fed-up with life in the chawl and plans to make enough money so that he and his family can leave the city and settle down in their home town. Armed with his gang of psychotic teenagers and their unbridled enthusiasm for violence, Naru makes that one fatal mistake that changes his life forever.

Siddharth Jhadav: Speedbreaker
A fidgety, volatile and hyperactive boy, almost like a ping pong ball, Speedbreaker's only ambition in life is to make sure of Naru's well being. He doesn't believe in God. A slight correction.....he does believe in only one God; NARU. However Speedbreaker does not know that his unflinching faith and belief in Naru would be severely tested as his idol commits a crime that even Speedbreaker might not be able to forgive him for....

Satish Kaushik: Mama
A warm-hearted middle-aged ex-millworker, Mama now makes a living as a broker. His generous and sweet nature is a firm reminder that humanity is still alive, even in times as difficult as was during the mill strike. However his simple unassuming life is threatened as a dark family secret forces him to make some bold decisions quickly before his entire life spirals out of control.

Kashmira Shah: Mami
A very attractive young woman, Mami was led into a marriage with a much older man through circumstances beyond her control. Fed-up of being labelled as a “Banj” and ostracised from society, Mami is forced to make a choice which threatens to disrupt her once idyllic life.

Sameer Dharmadhikari: Mahendra
The ambitious and aggressive son-in-law of the owner of Khetaan mills is a capitalist to the core. Educated in the west, he believes in the most profitable use of the mill and its land even if it means laying off thousands of mill workers in order to achieve his objective. His actions devoid of any qualms and ethics would one day lead to a confrontation between the mill workers, mill owners, the underworld and politicians in which there will be only one result...everyone loses!

Ganesh Yadav: Parshya Bhai
A man without ethics, Parshya Bhai blatantly milks the helplessness of the mill workers, by recruiting young boys from their families, in pursuit of his nefarious activities including extortion and murder. His eye for talent leads him to take Naru under his wings to further his ambition.

Sachin Khedekar: Rane
The union leader of Khetaan Mills is totally devoted to the worker's cause and is convinced that one day, under the guidance of Dr Baburao Sawant, the workers will prevail and the mill will reopen and work will continue as usual.

Synopsis

Today, there is hardly anyone who hasn't visited the swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs and other such lifestyle destinations that sprung up across the centre of Mumbai.

However, very few know that buried deep below these glittering edifices to consumerism lies the dark, dirty and painful reality of many thousands of mill workers who once worked the cotton mills in this very same area. Rising and toiling to the wail of the mill sirens each and every day, seven days a week, these workers embodied the true unbridled zeal and unflagging spirit of the city and played a pivotal role in the evolution of Mumbai as the modern day business capital of India.

And then it suddenly was as if they never existed. Following the mill workers strike in the mid-80s, these mills began closing down rapidly and the mill-workers mysteriously disappeared. What happened to them, and where they went is one of the most shameful secrets that the city of Mumbai will have to bear for generations, one that until now has always been spoken about in hushed whispers.

City of Gold - the story of these long-forgotten masses - not only explores the apathy of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, but is also a take-no-prisoners account of the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai.

The film traces the birth of the politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the unholy collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers. In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Mumbai was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth, and this began the systematic extinction of mills in Mumbai. In a matter of just a few years, hundreds of thousands of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew.

Many left Mumbai and went back to their ancestral homes, some others chose to stay back and fight what they soon realised was a losing battle, some took the extreme step of ending their miserable lives, and still some others took to a world of crime.

Truth… as is said, is stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film uncovers is not just stranger but darker and dirtier than any mind has ever imagined. Produced by DAR Motion Pictures and from the Director of dark and realistic films like Vaastav - Mr Mahesh Manjrekar, City of Gold takes another trip down memory lane.... just that this time around the result is a much more heart wrenching, soul stirring and shocking film about human avarice and apathy.

The film doesn't provide any direct solutions. Yet it shatters many a myth and raises many a question which only the passage of time will provide answers to..........