"Girls from the Gujarati community would come to Vanguard Studios with flowers in their hair and dangle their feet over a paper moon while sitting on a chair. A photograph in this type of a setting was a must, they had just completed a one-week fast called Mora Kat for their future good luck!"

This series is part of an ongoing collaboration between BOMBAYWALLA and PAYAL KHANDWALA. It showcases the people, places, and spaces of an older Bombay adapting to and living in a new Mumbai.

Photographs: Philippe Calia

A revisit of our archive to celebrate the dynamic spirit of the PAYAL KHANDWALA woman.

Concept + Creative Direction: Nidhi Jacob

Episode 2 of our “Women of India” series takes us further Northeast to the hills of Tripura.

Photographs: Boyer Debbarma

Regal Cinema was a technological marvel, at the time, and at the forefront of Bombay’s Art Deco era.

The cinema was built in 1933, to celebrate the golden age of cinema and glamour in the city. It was the first cinema in town to have air-conditioning and even provided an elevator to take its affluent patrons from their underground parking bay up to their plush balcony seats.

Photographs: Team PAYAL KHANDWALA