Mumbai High: The Musical

THUNDER RUMBLES

# This is our school

# Our home, our city

# We are all one community

# This is our school

# Our home, our city

# This is the place we're proud to be. #

My name is Iffat and this is a story about me and my friends,

and the school we go to here in Mumbai.

In this school, they all live in the slum...

..even some of the teachers.

Our school is located in Dharavi,

the largest slum in Asia...

..and all the children are coming from nearby Dharavi slums.

Giving them some washing powders.

Training them for cleanliness,

training them for washing.

It's very easy to talk about training children.

Come once and teach our children,

you will realise how difficult it is.

# Please take your seat inside the class

# We're here to serve you

# From little seeds to giant trees

# We'll help you stand tall

# Science, maths and languages

# The core of what we teach

# We'll set you up for everything

# For all you hope to reach

# For ever we'll mother

# Take care not to smother

# When there's no respite

# We're here day and night

# To show you the light

# Open your mind

# Open your mind

# Open your mind. #

We all have dreams about what we want to become.

Me, I want to be an eye surgeon.

And Mary, a footballer.

Is that realistic?

Well, one day, the Maharashtran state team got in touch with her.

# Open your mind

# Open your mind

# Boys are already expected to grow

# But girls are equally all in the know

# So we must influence them to be brave and show

# That girls can equally flourish and grow

# Open your mind

# Don't get left behind

# The world will be kind

# So open your mind. #

Are you confused by the different uniforms?

It's quite easy.

The students dressed in brown are taught in Hindi,

the ones in maroon are Urdu speakers.

People like Mary dressed in blue, they speak Marathi.

And me and the others in grey, we speak English.

I have got round about, in secondary section,

1,500 students.

In the early mornings,

at least five to six children will faint

and they feel very shy to tell

that they were hungry last night.

MALE TEACHER ISSUES COMMANDS

The parents do believe in education

but, if you don't have anything in your stomach,

how can you think about the brain?

Money is always an issue...

..whether it's for food or school fees.

If we do well in our exams, some of us will get financial help.

Everybody stay quiet now. Ranka-gee is going to come soon.

Pick up all your drawing books outside.

Mishra!

Mishra, is your drawing book out?

I will count to ten!

I want all your drawing books out!

Ten...

Three, two,

the last number is one!

Are your drawing books out?

CHEERING

I am the class representative

and, if my teachers are not there in the class,

that's my responsibility to make the students quiet.

I like having that responsibility

because I like to give speeches, I like to dance.

HE SINGS IN HINDI

I want to be a doctor when I grow up

because I like to help people.

Have you prepared yourself? Are you on the path to becoming a doctor?

-Yes, I am on the path of becoming a doctor.

-How?

I study more...

I study science when I get time.

Good. Do you speak to any doctors?

Yes, I speak to Dr Akram

and he told me about how patients have many things

and he showed me many medicines also.

-Good. So you are going to continue doing that?

-Yes.

Please do that if you want to...

Because it's not easy to become a doctor.

OK, in order to become a doctor,

you have to qualify a very difficult examination.

-Yeah, also five years...

-Yeah, five years on that course,

-what is it called?

-I don't know.

-MBBS.

-Yes! MBBS!

MBBS. What is the full form of MBBS?

It's Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Science.

After doing MBBS, you have to, again, study...

# I'm a cheeky, cheeky chappy

# Who's looking for more

# I'm a cheeky, cheeky chappy

# Gonna kick down the door

# So I'm the keeper of my destiny

# And people like to see the best in me

# My parents taught me everything, you see

# Confidence and love will make us free

# I don't need to be spoilt to win this race

# I know no bounds I'll keep up the chase

# My smile fills a room with joy and grace

# It brightens the day

# He'll be a doctor

# Just you wait and see

# He's spent half his life in Dharavi

# There's no other place where I would rather be

# Cos my school means all the world to me. #

With MBBS, you're going to become a doctor

but what type of doctor do you want to become?

You want to become the doctor of brain

or you want to become a doctor of bones?

-Everything of the body.

-Yeah, so you want to perform operations?

-Yes.

That's called surgery. OK?

So you have to take up, probably, general surgery.

-Even my father is a general surgeon.

-Yes?

-Yeah.

But you have to study a lot for that.

OK? Because you will be dealing with human lives.

-Yes, I know.

-So you have to be very cautious about it.

OK, so you will be on the...

# My future's bright

# I'll work so hard to make it

# Day by day I'm working in the heat and grey

# If I slump in the slums I know it could really hurt me

# But if I open the lock I know it could make me free

# I don't need to be spoilt to win this race

# I know no bounds I'll keep up the chase

# My smile fills a room with joy and grace

# It brightens the day

# I'll be a doctor

# Just you wait and see

# I've spent half my life in Dharavi

# There's no other place where I would rather be

# Cos my school means all the world to me

# He's a cheeky, cheeky chappy who's looking for more

# He's gonna push the limits Gonna push down the door

# He's a cheeky, cheeky chappy with a heart of gold

# Nothing can stop him from achieving his goal

# He's a cheeky, cheeky chappy

# I'm a really cool guy. #

Mummy!

SHE SHOUTS

We tell them. We do give them sex education.

Now, every girl of Dharavi wants to come to our school

because they feel this is the most safest school,

where a child has been taught manners

and they have all of the things a girl should know.

Hi, teacher!

The first category is English.

'I always do well in my exams.'

The question is,

there are five stages of writing -

I, D, E, E, P.

Can you tell me what each letter of IDEEP means?

'I get marks like A1.'

Writing!

Edit, Draft, Enhance...

100% in every subject.

I'm insightful.

I can speak six languages.

I quickly catch up everything.

# The spoken word is a powerful tool

# We have freedom of speech so I'm going to teach

# So I'll...

# We will all be better when we've been schooled

# Come and see the world through my eyes...

# I'll be a little jolly jalebi

# Put your hands in the air if you're feeling jolly good

# We're gonna make the world a better place

# Bonjour, ca va bien Very jolly, very good

# I'll be a little jolly jalebi

# Put your hands in the air if you're feeling jolly good

# We're gonna Dharavi a better place. #

I live in Dharavi, in a flat.

Because I like neat and tidy places,

my family live in a clean place

and I keep my household clean.

609.

'Iffat is a brilliant child.

'I feel she'll come up in life.

'But the younger daughter of theirs,

'that is Iffat's younger sister,

'is suffering from a kidney problem.'

So the father spends a lot of money on her medication.

Oh!

That is the reason why they still stay in Dharavi.

My little sister's had five major operations

and the operation takes six or seven hours.

I don't know how my father manage all these things.

But we think that my sister

is more important than money.

A-la-la-la-la-la.

Check and mate.

Da-da.

# Come and see the world through my eyes. #

I want to become an eye specialist

because I want to show people

how beautiful this world is.

Blind people always see black

in front of their eyes,

so they don't know the colours of the world.

DRUMMING

I want to show them beautiful and pretty glowing colours

that we have in the world.

It's really unfair

because the rich people always don't like the poor people.

They always try to get money and be richer more.

If I were the government,

the people who were rich,

I should take taxes from there a lot

and give those taxes to the poor people

by giving them home and job.

# When you look at the world don't behave like a fool

# It's a splendid home It's our only jewel

# To the bees and the trees we have been so cruel

# But they're...

# Come and see the world through my eyes

# Bonjour, ca va bien Very jolly, very good

# I'll be a little jolly jalebi

# Put your hands in the air if you're feeling jolly good

# We're gonna make Dharavi a better place

# The...

# The shadow we cast means they won't last

# But a spoonful of sugar and a helpful smile

# Will keep this earth spinning for a while

# Bonjour, ca va bien Very jolly, very good

# I'll be a little jolly jalebi

# Put your hands in the air if you're feeling jolly good

# We're gonna make Dharavi a better place. #

'This program is brought to you by...'

Goal, goal, goal!

Oh!

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain... #

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain...

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain

# Rain, rain. #

MAYURI SINGS

Hello, boys. Come on. Do it.

BOYS SHOUT

Mayuri, she's got a lot of family problems,

so we have to counsel her.

If her personality is damaged,

she will never grow up as a good person,

so we counselled her. We told her, "It's not you."

Mayuri's mother burned herself

but she had other reasons for burning herself.

Other part of the story is the father getting married very soon.

Then, again, immediately, within a year, they were having a kid.

So you can imagine a child

having a guilt of making his mother burn.

I think nobody can take it.

Former football superstar David Beckham recently told the media

that he shaved off his beard

only because his wife Victoria Beckham threatened him

that she wouldn't be kissing him.

HE TRANSLATES

'Like any school, we have end of year exams

'which I don't mind because I always do well.

'For some of us, passing exams doesn't just mean making progress,

'it can also mean winning a scholarship.'

Today's English exam and I don't know how it's going to go today,

so a little tension is there in my mind.

I was studying since night,

so I think I can score good marks in this exam.

And I am just remembering and revising everything

in my mind very fastly,

so that I can do better in my exam.

That's it. Now we relax as a team. Go.

Well done, Sam!

Every year after the exams,

we are all in that strange kind of limbo

as we wait for the results.

TRAIN HORN BLARES

I am not sure about Mayuri's future.

I am very much concerned.

Her father will not let her go to college.

They will stop her education as soon as possible, get rid of her,

get her married so their responsibility ends.

OK, first of all, sit straight, put the bag down.

OK, now I'm going to announce the scholarship names

and this scholarship,

it is going to be there probably for next five years

if you all are going to perform well.

If you're not performing well in the class,

then they may take your scholarship.

OK? Because they are investing a huge amount on you

and, if you don't perform well,

then what's the point of them giving you scholarship?

Is there any point?

If you're not serious about education...

They all just want to help you people.

Asra.

Stand up.

You have got the scholarship,

OK, for one year at least,

so your father, he doesn't need to pay any fees.

OK. Clap if you want to clap.

Shufshit, Altamash, Stanley,

Muskan, Shuthi, Tadam,

Gaikoba, Prokofi, Raju,

Kasim, Mushra, Geishaf,

Ashish,

Manish and Elai.

CHEERING

Woo-woo-woo-woo!

-Happy?

-ALL:

-Yes!

Good.

OK, so you go and tell your parents the good news.

OK, easy! Easy! Easy!

Ashish came second in the end-of-year exam.

The teachers were worried

that Raj and Mayuri would stop attending school,

but they're still coming.

Mary was lucky this year.

Her house didn't get pulled down by the authorities.

And me, I got the top marks of any girl in school.

# This is our school

# Our home, our city

# We are all one community

# This is our school

# Our home, our city

# This is the place we are proud to be

# So you see

# We are not only us

# We are him, her, you and me

# Just like you

# We all want to be free

# We'll achieve our goals

# Let's rise

# From this place of hope

# Where anything is possible

# We're the new generation

# We are part of a team

# In this city of dreams

# In our school

# We all live by a creed

# And we value tolerance

# With our friends

# And a strong belief

# We are one community... #

THEY CONTINUE SINGING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE

# Let's rise

# From this Mumbai High

# It's the home of our lives

# Where I'm going to thrive

# We are one

# All on a journey

# We are part of a team

# In this city of dreams... #

DRUMMING

THEY CONTINUE SINGING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE

# This is our school

# Our home, our city

# We are all one community

# This is our school Our home, our city

# This is our place we are proud to be... #

THEY CONTINUE SINGING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE

# Let's rise

# From this Mumbai High

# It's the home of our lives

# Where I'm going to try

# We are one

# All on a journey

# We are part of a team

# In this city of dreams

# So you see

# We are not only us

# We are him, her, you and me

# Just like you

# We all work to be free

# We'll achieve our goal

# From the school of hope. #