GRADUATE ELECTIVE COURSE
REPRESENTING THE METROPOLIS
SIR JJ SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE
13 JAN -17 APR, 2026
Dr. Smita Dalvi & Dr. Mustansir Dalvi
COURSE BRIEF
Medium:
Films, Participatory Discussion, Multimedia Engagement
Outcome:
Public exhibition called “100 Ways of Representing Mumbai”
“How can the Nagari Film Archive be used as a primary resource to critically examine urban life in India?”
Representing the Metropolis explored Mumbai as a cultural object and examined how metropolitan life is represented through cinema, literature, poetry, visual art, material objects and everyday narratives. The elective explored how these forms of representation shape understandings of urban identity, memory, aspiration and social relations. Students critically examined the relationship between urban form and culture while developing observational and interpretive skills relevant to architecture and urbanism.
METHODOLOGY
The course combined film screenings, lectures, literature, poetry, visual art and participatory discussions to explore how cities are represented. Using Nagari films as starting points, students connected urban narratives with questions of identity, memory, architecture, social relations and urban change.
Film screenings to identify urban themes and questions
Discussing Nagari films and different modes of representation
Close reading of literary and visual texts
Guided discussions and reflective classroom dialogue
Connecting cultural narratives with architectural and urban questions
Exploring different ways of representing the city
LECTURES | RESOURCE EXPERTS
As part of “100 Ways of Representing Mumbai”, students engaged with urban photographer and archivist Gopal MS, followed by a screening and discussion of three Nagari films, including The Chaviwallahs of Mumbai. The session explored photography, film, and other ways of representing Mumbai, with Gopal discussing his photographic practice. Through Mumbai Paused, he documents the everyday textures and social rhythms of Mumbai’s streets, drawing attention to overlooked details as living archives of urban life.
NAGARI FILMS
Nine films were selected for the course, exploring the public realm, heritage, and structural systems in Mumbai.
NAGARI FILMS IN THE CLASSROOM
Beginning the elective with several Nagari films established a common experiential ground before introducing theoretical concepts. Students first encountered the city through observation and storytelling, and only afterwards through critical frameworks.
This sequence made classroom discussions richer and demonstrated that architecture and urbanism are inseparable from the cultural narratives through which people understand and inhabit the metropolis. The themes discussed are as follows:
- Multiple perceptions of the metropolis
- Identity, belonging, memory, displacement, and freedom
- Everyday urban life
- Memory and place
- Public space and urban behaviour
- Informal and formal urban practices
- Changing metropolitan cultures
- Architecture as lived experience rather than simply built form
OBSERVATIONS
The elective used Nagari films as a starting point for exploring Mumbai as a cultural and lived environment, bringing questions of urban representation into discussions around architecture and urbanism.
The course encouraged students to understand the metropolis as a cultural and symbolic construct rather than solely a physical environment. Through discussions across different forms of representation, students explored how urban meanings are constructed through media and the relationship between representation, social behaviour, urban change and place-making.
This approach contributed to the development of “100 Ways of Representing Mumbai”, a student-led public exhibition exploring the different ways the city is experienced and represented.
Want to implement the Nagari Education Program at your own institution?
Email us at: nagari@charlescorreafoundation.org