No cat calls in Mumbai

A few weeks ago, a hidden-camera video of a woman walking through various neighborhoods of New York City captured international attention. The footage documented more than 100 instances of street harassment — catcalls, unsolicited comments, and men following her — over the course of a single day. The video sparked a global conversation about public harassment, women's safety, and the everyday reality of navigating urban spaces while female.

Similar experiments followed in cities around the world. A New Zealand version showed markedly fewer incidents. Brussels produced footage that went viral for different, darker reasons. Each video added a data point to a broader discussion about which cities are safer for women and why.

Now, Indie Tube has brought that experiment to Mumbai — and the results have surprised many viewers. In the video, a young woman walks through some of the city's busy streets, and the footage shows something striking in its ordinariness: she is largely left alone. No harassment, no following, no catcalls. She walks freely, without incident.

The video has drawn considerable commentary online, with many viewers — Indian and international alike — noting both relief and cautious optimism. Others have pointed out that a single video, shot on a chosen day in chosen locations, cannot capture the full complexity of women's experiences in any city. Mumbai, like any major metropolis, has neighborhoods and contexts where street harassment is a documented reality, and women's safety advocates have been careful not to let one positive clip stand in for a more complicated picture.

What the video does offer, though, is a counternarrative to the assumption that street harassment is simply inevitable in densely populated cities. That a woman can walk busy Mumbai streets without being harassed is not a given — it is a standard worth noticing, and worth working to replicate everywhere, every day.

The original NYC catcall video was produced by advocacy group Hollaback, which campaigns against street harassment globally. Indie Tube's Mumbai response, “A Girl Walks in Mumbai”, can be viewed on YouTube.