This love letter to the syncretic culture of Old Delhi, or Shahjahanabad, is based on interviews with 75 migrant workers. The film follows the lives and aspirations of a pickpocket and a sweetmeat vendor from Uttar Pradesh, and a loader from Kerala, who all live on an abandoned rooftop. Inspired by Akash, a local Jain who conducts heritage walks through Old Delhi, the pickpocket devises his own ‘alternative walks’ which reveal the city’s underbelly but land him in trouble with small-factory owners and the police. Changing tack, he conducts a final ‘dream walk’ that takes us deep into the migrant communities’ subconscious. Light and humorous in its approach, Ghode ko Jalebi is notable for its portrayal of the mix of languages spoken in Old Delhi, including Urdu, Hindi, English, Malayalam and Bhojpuri, together with street versions of the same.
