Art is a great way to drive home a social message. Reason, it is eye catching and most of the times does not look preachy. It leaves an even better impact if the locals take up these cause and paint the areas around them. The 'S' ward in Mumbai's Bhandup, is setting a perfect example for the same. The locals have painted on street walls and all these paintings convey a social message as well. The messages include save water, save girl child, beti bachao beti padhao, tree plantation, cleanliness among others. Previously, these walls had posters of advertisements, political banners etc. Some of these paintings also lay focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.
Street art in Mumbai is not a a new concept.
There are several such wall paintings near Marine Lines and Dadar wherein they convey a social message. Jaamsethji Jeejeebhoy School of Arts in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Jai Hind College in Churchgate had collaborated together to paint the stairways and walls near ticket counters at several railway stations in Mumbai. These paintings can be seen at Borivali, Mumbai Central, Masjid and Kandivali station. Mumbai is well-known for graffiti walls especially near Bandra. There are special 'art walks' organised to showcase these paintings.
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Notably in 2019, the city's ranking in the national cleanliness survey Swachh Survekshan took a major hit as it dropped to 49th rank from 18th last year. Thane's ranking too dropped to 57 from 40 last year. However, Navi Mumbai bagged the 7th rank i.e. two notches up from 2018. Mira-Bhayandar jumped to 27 from 47 last year, and Vasai-Virar stood at 36, compared to 61 in the previous year.
In 2017, Piramal Foundation had taken up an initiative to decorate the walls of Dadar's Tilak Bridge with alphabets and paintings. This bridge is generally occupied by underprivileged people and with an aim to provide basic education and awareness to them, Pirama Foundation had initiated the project.
Moreover, there are several murals in Mumbai, the most prominent ones being in Bandra's Chapel Road where there are murals of Amitabh Bachchan's iconic Deewar movie and Bina Rai and actor Pradeep Kumar's Anarkali. Other murals in Bandra include Rajesh Khanna, Dadasaheb Phalke and Nawazuddin Siddiqi among others.
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Here's are some of the pictures of the wall paintings:
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