Jugaad

A cow stops undisturbed in the middle of the road while scooters and cars whizz by as if it didn’t even exist. Every city has its own structure that derives from customs, habits, and different social stratifications. And every city poses challenges to its inhabitants. We are in Mumbai, and "Jugaad" is a Hindi word for a kind of “innovative fix or efficient solution that bends the rules.” The artist and architect Chak Hin Leung chose this very concept for the title of his short film that, through the absence of commentary or dialogue, shows how the inhabitants of Mumbai adapt to the city every day, actively conforming to its colourful and noisy spaces of coexistence. The camera becomes a respectful host of what happens in front of it, investigating how the city and its inhabitants are a whole that moves and evolves in unison.