Multipolis Mumbai: Independence and the City

Writing both in English and Gujarati languages, Amrit Gangar has several books on cinema to his credit, including 24 x 7 = Mumbai in Gujarati. He has presented his conceptual theory of Cinema Prayoga at various venues in India and abroad including Tate Modern, London and Pompidou Centre, Paris. He has curated and presented the art of Bollywood billboard painting in Europe along with the Billboard painters from Mumbai. He was curator of cinema programs for the Kala Ghoda Artfest in its first four editions, as well as of the Kochi Biennale. He is on the Editorial Board of the bilingual (English, Malayalam) journal Chalachitra Sameeksha published by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. In 2001, he was Artistic Director (India) along with Marina Abramovic on dance-theatre project Total Masala Slammer directed by Michael Laub. At present he is conceptualizing and curating the project called the Panj Tirath, the five Gandhian pilgrimage places around the city of Surat.

Dr. Himanshu Burte, an architect and urbanist, is Assistant Professor at the School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and has a Ph. D. in Urban Planning (CEPT University, Ahmedabad). He has practiced architecture in Mumbai and Goa for over a decade and a half, and has also published extensively across the professional, popular and academic press for almost thirty years. His latest book (co-edited with Amita Bhide) Urban Parallax: Policy and the City in Contemporary India (Yoda Press and Aga Khan Agency for the Habitat India (AKAH), India, New Delhi, 2018) gathers diverse disciplinary perspectives to deconstruct urban policy in India. His 2008 book, Space for Engagement: The Indian Artplace and a Habitational Approach to Architecture (Seagull Books, Kolkata), proposes an alternative conceptual framework for architecture centred on the act of dwelling. Active for long in building critical discourse around architecture and urbanism in India, Burte is a co-founder of Gubbi Alliance for Sustainable Habitat (www.gubbi.org) a network of architects practicing sustainably in India. His current research interests include urban transformation, critical practice, urban infrastructure, housing policy, theatre architecture and sustainable urbanism. A former Fulbright Fellow (University of California, Berkeley, 2008-09), he is a member of the Editorial Advisory Panel of Marg Publications, Mumbai, a premier arts and culture publishing house. He is currently editing a special issue of Marg devoted to new spaces of infrastructure in India.

Murali Ranganathan researches the nineteenth century with a special focus on Bombay/Mumbai and western India. His current areas of interest include Bombay print history and culture, photography, newspapers and periodicals, business history, and public performance. His publications include Govind Narayan's Mumbai: an urban biography from 1863 (Anthem Press, 2008), a translation of the iconic Marathi urban biography Mumbaiche Varnan, supplemented by a biography of Govind Narayan, biographical sketches of Mumbai men and organizations of the nineteenth century, and notes. He has edited and introduced two books connected with the urban history of western India: Collected works of J V Naik: reform and renaissance in nineteenth century Maharashtra (Asiatic Society of Mumbai, 2016) and J R B Jeejeebhoy’s Bombay Vignettes: explorations in the history of Bombay (Asiatic Society of Mumbai, 2018).

Naresh Fernandes is a journalist who lives in Bombay. He is the editor of Scroll.in, a digital daily. He is the author of City Adrift: A Short Biography of Bombay and Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age.

Sanghamitra Chatterjee has several years’ experience in the field of business and corporate archiving. Her professional journey began with the 118-year-old Godrej Group, where she set-up the archive of one of India’s most trusted brands. She has also been an Adviser to the Cipla Archives, Mumbai where she introduced archival processes and documented the pharmaceutical company’s core archival collection. Sanghamitra founded Past Perfect Heritage Management with the intention of taking the art of archiving and research to a larger audience. Past Perfect helps institutions, business houses and families engage, preserve and promote their inherited legacy and heritage, thereby making it relevant for future generations