In films and documentaries, offices in Mumbai often take the form of gigantic work floors, divided into small boxes in which sweaty Indians play for call centers. No more powerful antidote for that visual archetype than a visit to Ministry of New, a beautiful coworking space in a colonial building in the Fort district. Ministry of New, founded by the Dutch immigrants Marlies Bloemendaal and Natascha Chadha, was proclaimed the second best coworking space in the world by the business magazine Forbes. The high walls are painted in soothing white, the light gushes in in ample quantities and everywhere are large wooden tables, ornate plants and designer furniture.

Future East Film at Ministry of New:

In Sequel, a gluten-free bistro in Bandra - one of the most residential areas of Mumbai - I have agreed with filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia. Ahluwalia is an exponent of the new wave of Indian cinema: he is situated outside the Bollywood universe and makes films that dynamitate the boundaries between documentary and fiction.

"The independent film scene in Mumbai is huge," he says. "In the cinemas, you can still see mainly Bollywood films. But on Netflix and Amazon, you see committed documentaries and quality author films. And they now reach a much larger audience than the films in the cinemas.

"Bollywood is in free fall. People are tired of that mess. Even Bollywood stars are bored of what they do. You can see them popping up more and more in edgy films in which they can demonstrate their acting talent. "

Those who want to see an arthouse film in Mumbai and at the same time want to experience an authentic Indian cinema experience, go to the Bharatmata Cinema in Lower Parel: one of Mumbai's oldest cinemas, where the visitors are open-minded and the movie tickets are just not free. You have to take into account that the seats are not too tight and that the soundtrack of the film is occasionally diluted with traffic noise from the outside.

According to Ahluwalia, Mumbai experiences a renaissance in the cultural field. "Fifteen years ago everybody listened to Bryan Adams here. Today we have a great electronic music scene. The internet has changed everything: Indian young people still have no money to travel, but now know the latest music trends in South Korea. America is no longer the founding example. We get our influences from everywhere and make our own cultural brews with them”

Translated from the Dutch article in DeMorgan.