Mumbai Tourism

Mumbai is an island, connected by bridges with the mainland. At one time it was actually a number of islands and low swampy areas indicate where these divisions once were. The principal part of the city is concentrated at the southern end of the island and the northern end is comparatively lightly populated. The airport, Santa Cruz, is 26 km to the north. There are three main railway stations in the city centre. Churchgate and Victoria Terminus are conveniently central but Mumbai Central is some distance further out. Orientation in Mumbai is relatively simple. The southern promontory is Colaba Causeway and the northern end of this promontory is known as Colaba. Most of the cheap hotels and restaurants together with a number of Mumbai's top notch establishments are located here. Mumbai's two main landmarks — the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel — are at Colaba. Directly north of Colaba is the area known as Mumbai Fort since the old fort was once here.

A visit to the film studios in Mumbai is easy to arrange — just tell the tourist office you'd like to see a film being made and they'll fix it all up for you. It's a real education, as we found when we turned up at Famous Film Studios. For a start the film production company and the studios are totally separate. Mumbai has about 12 studios and far more film makers. When they want to make a film they simply hire the studio by the day. Nor are Indian films made one-at-a-time as in the west. A big star could be involved in a number of films simultaneously — shooting a day on one, a week on another, a morning on a third. This involves phenomenal scheduling and also means that Indian films generally take a long time to make.

A glance at Indian film posters or film magazines gives you the impression that Indian movie actors are a band of escapees from weight watchers. Well there's no glamour in being thin in India. Every beggar on the street is skinny; it's the well padded look which appeals. It's amsuing to see how this works on western films shown in India — familiar European and American film stars become remarkably rotund when they're repainted for the Indian posters.

The entertainment industry is the other major employer in Mumbai. Most of India's major television and satellite networks are headquartered in Mumbai, as well as its major publishing houses. The centre of the Hindi movie industry, Bollywood, is also located in Mumbai, along with its largest studios and movie production houses.