Hansal Mehta says Colombo is more cleaner, dignified than Mumbai: 'Taught to normalise the unacceptabble'

Hansal Mehta

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta was recently in Colombo (capital of Sri Lanka) for a long shoot of his upcoming project. Upon returning to his home in Mumbai, the filmmaker shared his observations on the difference between the two cities. He pointed out that despite the economic crisis and political turmoil, the Sri Lankan city is cleaner, more organised, and more dignified than Mumbai, the so-called financial capital of a rising superpower.

Hansal Mehta's observations on Mumbai and Colombo

Taking to his official X handle, Mehta expressed his discontent in a heartfelt post. "Every time I come back to Mumbai I am appalled - not just by the filth, the chaos, the broken infrastructure, but by our collective indifference to it. We excuse it all with "but we have such a large population." True. But we also have a population that has been taught to expect very little, demand nothing, and normalise the unacceptable," the director noted.

Mehta shared that even with the sky-high real estate cost of the Maximum city, all that the city has to offer is garbage-littered streets, open drains, and civic apathy dressed up in designer branding.

"A city consumed by consumerism, yet hollowed out from the inside. How long will we continue to live like this? Apathetic, exhausted, and resigned - mistaking endurance for pride, and chaos for character," he added.

'Mumbai has given me everything'

However, the Scoop maker has not lost hope and still loves Mumbai.

"It has given me everything. But it's strangled by those in power, people who never let it breathe, who won't allow it to care for us. They profit from its decay and dress it up as resilience," he concluded.

Mehta reacts to netizens

Mehta reacted to a post by French expat Mathilde R', a Gurugram resident.

Taking to social media, she had claimed, "Many of my foreign friends no longer wish to visit." She added that despite being a hub to some of India's most premium brands such as Vistara and Oberoi, public spaces of the city resemble "post-war zones or underdeveloped nations."

Another netizen called out Mehta for bad-mouthing the city he lives in. Responding to the person, he wrote, "Call me uncle all you like, but at least I'm not the kind of dimwit who defends filth like its culture. I live here, I work here, and I've just returned from Sri Lanka. You, on the other hand, seem to be stuck in a WhatsApp group from 2017. Log off. Touch grass. Read a book."