Can love survive the weight of circumstance, geography, and social stigma? That’s the question at the heart of Kamathipura Express, an upcoming Indo-Polish film that follows a sex worker from Kamathipura who falls in love with a Polish man. Directed by Polish filmmaker Leon Korzynski, the film blends romance with social commentary, offering a rare cross-cultural lens on one of Mumbai’s most storied neighbourhoods.

For Korzynski, the idea was born from an inability to look away from the realities he witnessed during his visits to India. “What usually draws me to a story is a certain kind of inner disturbance — anger, frustration, or the feeling that I do not fully understand something,” he says. “My time in Kamathipura, my four journeys to India, and the stories I heard there gave me a very strong need to face this subject. In many ways, this film is my love letter to a city and to people I came to love.”