Bidesia is Bhojpuri for ‘the one who leaves home’. One in four migrants in Mumbai are Bhojpuri, a people from the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bambai is their name for Mumbai/Bombay. The Bidesia in Bambai, like most migrants in any ‘global city’, inhabit its precarious edges. Mobile phones bridge a tenuous connection between home and the city. Along with his meagre belongings, the Bidesia migrant also brings a vibrant musical culture that is often sexually charged, religious and political. Bidesia in Bambai makes the migrants visible, in a city that renders them illegal and unwanted, in and through the musical sphere that they inhabit. This is a story of music, migration and mobile phones.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
