Vivek Agnihotri mocks Mumbai’s monsoon woes: ‘Rs 1 lakh per sq ft to watch your car float by’

Mumbai rain

The first major downpour of the season brought Mumbai to a grinding halt and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has not held back in expressing his outrage. Taking to social media platform X, the director of The Kashmir Files shared videos of flooded upscale neighbourhoods like Peddar Road and Nepean Sea Road, criticising what he called India’s “pathetic urbanisation”.

Pedder Road. One of Mumbais poshest addresses.Rs 1 lakh per sq ft for the privilege of watching your car float past your living room.World-class pricing. Third-world drainage.Enjoy the waterfront property. No extra charge. pic.twitter.com/WfrpSljTnQ

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Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 27, 2025

“Nepean Sea Road, home to India’s top billionaires, top ministers & officials, chokes in one shower,” Agnihotri posted, alongside a video of the inundated street. “So do Delhi, Bengaluru and other cities, year after year. India’s pathetic urbanisation is a scam wrapped in a sham. Poor ordinary citizens.. but who cares?”

In another sarcastic post, he remarked, “Pedder Road. One of Mumbai’s poshest addresses. Rs 1 lakh per sq ft for the privilege of watching your car float past your living room. World-class pricing. Third-world drainage. Enjoy the waterfront property. No extra charge.”

The posts sparked a flood of reactions from users across the country. While many echoed Agnihotri’s frustration, others weighed in with biting humour. “Sir 'Water Files' movie when??” one user joked. Another wrote, “Sir. This clearly deserves a film. Only a visionary director, a true seer of our times, can capture its depth. Title suggestion: The Drainage Files. Can’t wait for the Venice & Cannes premiere. Or at least a BMC screening. With zero taxes.”

Yet several comments took a more serious tone, calling for urgent infrastructure reforms. “It is high time GoI first makes it mandatory for Smart Cities to solve their drainage problems and solid / liquid disposal systems,” one user wrote. Another pointed to the intensity of the rainfall: “100 mm rain in 1 hour? With that much rain, most drainage systems across the world would be flooded.”

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that the southwest monsoon had made its onset over Mumbai on Monday — marking one of the earliest arrivals in Maharashtra in the past 35 years. The IMD issued a yellow alert initially, which was subsequently upgraded to orange and then red, warning of extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds, HT reported.

As per data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai’s island city recorded an average rainfall of 106 mm in the 24 hours ending 8 am on Tuesday. Nariman Point topped the charts with a staggering 252 mm. A high tide of 4.88 metres was expected at 12.13 pm on Tuesday, followed by another tide of 4.18 metres at 11.56 pm, as per a report by Business Today.

Despite the chaos, public transport services managed to remain largely operational, with only minor delays reported on the suburban railways. Buses and metro lines continued to function, although traffic was heavily disrupted in several low-lying areas of south Mumbai.