MUMBAI: Radio City Mumbai’s popular breakfast show host, RJ Archana, who recently featured in her real-life RJ avatar in the critically acclaimed black-comedy crime-drama, Bombairiya, recalls her experience.

 “It was an amazing experience being a part of Bombairiya, a film that depicts the craziness of the city that never sleeps and this has been nothing short of a joy ride. What was striking for me was getting opportunity take my real life as a Radio City RJ, on the reel and depict the power of radio on the celluloid. Working alongside brilliant actors like Radhika Apte and a vibrant director like Pia Sukanya made this journey even more exhilarating,” says RJ Archana.

Commenting on the association with Radio City and RJ Archana, director Pia Sukanya said, “As filmmakers, when you imagine a character in a scene and then not only get what you wanted but much more than you expected, it’s a rare and wonderful thing. This happened a few times in making Bombairiya; once when we created the character of a fading superstar that Ravi Kishan played and again with Archana playing RJ Archana! We found that it was more than possible to bring our version of ‘Archana’ to life, because as an actor, she takes direction so well and is natural on screen. She bubbles to life in a very believable way. Writer-Producer of Bombairiya Michael Ward likens her to India’s Goldie Hawn! Shooting at Radio City was ideal as I was looking for authenticity in every frame and we had to fit our crew into real but tiny spaces capturing RJ Archana in her actual environment. I’m sure there were challenges that day but all I remember is plenty of laughter and plenty of choices in the edit!”

Certain crucial scenes of the film were shot in Radio City Mumbai studio, giving it an authentic feel and a touch of reality. The character of RJ Archana and the depiction of radio are vital to the plot of the film and played an instrumental role in taking the storyline forward.

Bombairiya, starring Radhika Apte, Siddhant Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Akshay Oberoi and Shilpa Shukla, is homage to the city of dreams – Mumbai, aka Bombay. It accurately depicts the overwhelming and contrasting tendencies of the Mumbaikars in their daily lives.

Radio City was the official radio partner of the multi starrer that premiered on 14 January, 2019, at the Diorama International Film Festival held in Delhi, right before hitting theatres on 18 January, 2019. The film has also been made available on Netflix since 15^thMarch, 2019.