IN THE OPEN AIR (Student Documentary Film on the Street Artists of Mumbai) by Mohit Mishra

Mumbai has not only given birth to Bollywood and big Theatre personalities - it remains a hub of a spectrum of artists - be it dancers, musicians or painters. Great painters like M. F. Hussain, Tyeb Meta, S. H. Raza, and F. N. Souza have all worked and lived in this place, institutions like J. J. School of Art have shaped their style and their legacies are still preserved in India’s best galleries like Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda. But this story is not about that. When you come out of the famous Jehangir Art Gallery, you find a series of small-scale artworks and paintings being displayed on the pavements for sale. These are those artworks which didn’t have the opportunity to enter into the gallery and find a place among the pricy artworks. They are often overlooked - we can call them leftover art. However, many artists rely on them for their livelihood - they may not have that much recognition but their works are equally great, it is not just a vocation for them but slices of their lives. Whether they’re landscapes, portraits, watercolours, caricatures, still life, charcoal sketches, or even photographs etc., each picture tells its own unique story. This documentary captures those moments of reflection by the pavement artists and tries to find out the stories of their lives and motivations.