For us, as organised westerners, the slums are an extremely imposing and exceptional collection of ramshackle shanties. People, rubbish and organised chaos abound. This ranges from the weather-beaten materials used by their inhabitants to build their dwellings to the brightly coloured clothes worn in particular by their womenfolk, not forgetting of course, the wizened faces of their residents.

At the end of the day we arrive at Bollywood, where we meet the leading player and drop into the studio to record some voice-overs. After some coaching, we manage to adapt the voice of the leading player to the tone we require: every word he speaks must hit the right note, that is, fit in perfectly the mood we aim to recreate in the film.

Staring out of the car window on the way back to the hotel, I can only conclude that the slums will bring us into contact with many memorable situations, all the ingredients we need for some authentic film shots.

Perhaps the best thing about these seemingly tough circumstances is the fact that residents realise they have to make the best of a bad job, learning to survive and prosper with what they have. They grasp every opportunity to nurture the development and success of their youngsters. How fantastic it would be if facilities were available to make this possible for more children?

In a country that is not your home, it’s vital you have those on your team who know their way around and can communicate with the locals. Our crew put in some valiant work on this front. Experienced and discerning, they were instrumental in making the entire shoot an unqualified success. To all intents and purposes, everything went smoothly.

Nevertheless, India would not be India if it all went off without a hitch. For example, there were locations we were denied access to at the very last moment, or bit-part actors who simply didn’t turn up: challenges which had to be solved on the spot by some creative problem solving. The best thing about all these chance events is that we were able to capture the authentic life of the slums on film. Just the ordinary way of life in Mumbai. The atmosphere certainly has an effect on you and this is reflected in the images.

Back home we started looking at all the film material and got down to work on the first edit. It soon became clear that all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle would fall into place much better than we could have anticipated. The unexpected scenes in Mumbai gave some dynamism to the film which brought to life everyday existence in the slums.

It was then the turn of the sound mixer to add his bit of creativity to the proceedings. His challenge: to compose a piece of music combining both elements of eastern and western culture in and authentic composition which touches the hearts and minds of its audience. A soloist was called in to add a more human touch and special character to the music, leaving even greater resonance amongst listeners.

The combination of the voice-over and the special audio sounds demonstrates how important it is to focus attention on the development of people who need it so much.

After the sound and picture editing, the last stage in the process was the colour grading - matching and enhancing the colours in each successive shot. In the first part of the movie, we leave everything as it is. The situation may not be rose-tinted, but the talent and the potential of youngsters must come to the fore. In this part the colours are warm and authentic, but by no means sparkling.

This changes when the reaction to the potentiality of the first part becomes clearer. The children playing sport are depicted more colourfully which brings everything to life reflecting the enjoyment of the children.

Eventually, all this falls into place and we see the children playing and enjoying themselves. We then return to the lead actor who expresses his belief than we can make a difference as long as we embrace each other. His dream of a better future.