Gangoobai - 2013

Story

Gangoobai, a childless, elderly widow, has lived her whole life in the tiny colonial hill station of Matheran, set in the spectacularly beautiful Sahyadri mountain range about 4 hours? drive from Mumbai.

Her world consists of tending to her beloved flowers and working as domestic help in a few homes, among them that of the wealthy Hodiwala family who own a weekend bungalow in Matheran, an eco-sensitive zone where no vehicles are allowed, not even bicycles.

Gangoobai?s quiet life is suddenly disrupted when, one day, she sees the Hodiwala?s teenage daughter wearing a magnificent designer Parsi sari of white Chinese motifs embroidered on a background of purple silk.

The old woman falls instantly in love with this exotic, expensive, custom-made creation - and longs to own one herself.

Driven by this unlikely obsession, Gangoobai manages, against all odds, to save the money over 4 years of hard work and despite some wrong judgments, and finally finds herself in the big, polluted, overcrowded city of Mumbai - an urban nightmare she is utterly unprepared for.

Here, filled with fears and misgivings, she is pleasantly surprised to find that people are the same everywhere, despite all outward appearances to the contrary, and that even the hardest heart can be transformed by kindness and love.

Finally, one day, Gangoobai collects her designer sari and attains her dream, only to face ultimate failure and betrayal at home by one whom she holds closest to her heart.

Yet, her essential goodness and unfailing generosity to life redeem the destruction of her dreams, and set her life on a path that surpasses anything that she could ever have imagined...