The Draft Colaba

By A Draft Colaba Correspondent

The heavy rains didn't dampen the spirit of Ambedkar Nagar residents who kept trickling in for the screening of 'Unsung Mumbai Police - Colaba Division' - a documentary produced by DraftCraft Films in collaboration with The Draft. The back-to-back screenings were organised by Cuffe Parade-based Madrasa Gulshan-e-Raza's Sayyad Bukhari also a Mohalla Committee member from the zone.

Watch the documentary here.

FLASHBACK: Locals gathered for the screening of 'Unsung Mumbai Police - Colaba Division'

Locals of all age groups, including the children and the elderly, gathered to watch the 26-minute documentary that featured a few slum-dwellers of the area as well. During the screening, the mood of the audiences remained sombre as they relived the horrifying times of the COVID-19 pandemic through the documentary.

The documentary was earlier released in public domain and is being screened at several locations across the slums of Colaba and Cuffe Parade areas by residents who have been featured in the film and active citizens for the benefit of the locals.

At one such screening and discussion, Sayyad Bukhari recalled the lockdown period and emphasised on the importance of initiatives such as DraftCraft International's #TheUnsungProject that has been documenting the efforts put in by the local police and the residents during the COVID-19 pandemic in zones that were unique and 'difficult'.

EMOTIONAL: Residents relived their horrors and how they helped each other during the lockdown

He said, "Many residents volunteered during the lockdown and together we cooked food for hundreds of people, distributed it in the slums and worked with the police to send thousands of migrant workers living in Cuffe Parade slums back to their villages."

The docu-film featured him too as part of the dozens who spoke of the role of police personnel from the Colaba Division - including Cuffe Parade Police, Colaba Police and Marine Drive Police - in controlling COVID-19 during the two lockdowns in the heavily-crowded slums of the zone.

Among the scores who gathered for the screenings, Ambedkar Nagar-based cook Shambhu Yadav spoke about how for the first four months of the lockdown, he along with other volunteers cooked food for more than a thousand people everyday and other set of volunteers distributed it through the narrow by-lanes of the slums.

REMINISCING: Sayyad Bukhari (second from right), Shambhu Yadav (extreme left) and others during the screening and discussion

Sayyad Bukhari's was a local screening held of the docu-film produced by DraftCraft Films in conjunction with The Draft and being screened in back-to-back events complete with discussions for select invitees at DraftCraft - the Mumbai Studio in Colaba as well.

Watch the documentary here.

Unsung Mumbai Police - Colaba Division produced by DraftCraft Films in collaboration with The Draft was released in public domain for free viewing on 22 May 2022. This documentary was created as part of #TheUnsungProject kickstarted by Unsung - The Film that was released in November 2020. It captures the selfless dedication of those whose contributions would otherwise go ... unsung.

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