ColdPlay Beyonce and the Parsi Connection: Soraabb Kumana

Over the past few days there has been a video that seems to have “broken the Internet in India”. “Hymn for the Weekend” by the band Coldplay also features Beyonce and the video for the most part is shot in Mumbai. Social media has been trending this video for variety of reasons. Some love it and some accuse it of having cultural appropriation.

This video however has a Parsi connection. The line producer for the entire Mumbai shoot is a young Parsi.  Soraabb Kumana. Soraab coordinated and orchestrated the entire shoot on location in Mumbai when Coldplay came down in 2015 to create the visuals. In conversation with Parsi Khabar, Soraabb spoke about some of the challenges in managing live locations in Mumbai that one sees in the video. Soraabb is no stranger to managing challenging production locations. Over the past decade he has worked with celebrity sportsmen, Bollywood actors, business tycoons and the like all over India, the Far East, Europe and United States. Majority of his work is in the advertising media world, but he has also line produced Bollywood movies, most notably English Vinglish; where he also plays a very brief cameo.

Soraabb Kumana on location with Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay

Soraabb is the younger brother of Parsi Khabar co-editor Shirin Kumaana-Wadia

The video is an artist’s representation of what they imagine India to be. It is meant for the global audience and shows Mumbai in a very refreshing way, a city full of joie de vivre. Those who see it (especially Indians in India) with a microscopic vision and dissects every frame miss the point that this is after all a music video and not a research documentary or commentary on Indian culture and society.

Sit back and enjoy the video and see Bombay/Mumbai in a refreshing light.