The documentary queen Madhushree Dutta’s ‘Seven Islands and a Metro’ – a non-fiction documentary feature on Mumbai. It witnessed 700 applauds in a private screening at Y. B. Chavan Hall on the 2nd day of June, 2006 and will be the first of its kind, to bag multiplex release by Sringar Films on 6th Oct. 2006. The documentary is being directed by Madhushree Dutta. This non-fiction documentary is structured around imaginary debates between Ismat Chugtai and Sa’adat Hasan Manto, the two legendary writers who lived in this metropolis, played by Harish Khanna & Vibha Chibbar.

‘Seven Islands and a Metro: a city’ that came into existence by weaving 7 isles. This documentary is a tale of the cities of Bom Bahia / Bombay / Mumbai, through a tapestry of fiction, cinema vérité, art objects, found footage, sound installation and literary texts. The multilingual Bombay, the Bombay of intolerance, the Bombay of closed mills, of popular culture, sprawling slums and real estate onslaughts, the metropolis of numerous ghettos, the El Dorado.

On her unique achievement, Madhushree, Director, attributed, “Though this is my first release I have been making documentaries for a long time.  Seven Islands… has been my most ambitious and expensive effort so far. And it gives me immense pleasure to receive such a warm response by reviewers, press and industry. Generally these so called “arty movies” get a very specific and class consumption and never mass consumption; I’m glad that my documentary is reaching its subjects and right audiences. Documentaries are boring, but non-fiction is liberating-you can use visual art, music and literature.” In her honest confession she added, “I wanted to be an actress after going to the National School of Drama. But during the 1992-93 riots, my friends pushed me to make a documentary—‘I Live In Behrampada’. So I’m an accidental filmmaker,” she says.

Madhushree has weaved in art, poetry, theatrical characters playing literary ones, and Bollywood-style shots. Shot mainly during the monsoon the film portrays some extremely beautiful yet ruthlessly violent features of Bombay, which generally, are not part of the popular narratives where the city’s seven islands become touchstones for seven significant moments in its life to generate a tantalizing mix of images, anecdotes and information.

Mr. Shyam Shroff, Sringar Films, added, “I was highly touched by this piece of art and felt it deserved a wider audience. Hence we decided to make available our platform for this creative effort. I’m sure it will receive a very good response and will narrate a new tale to the citizens of this city about their city.”