For nearly 20 years, Mumbai has been home to actor Richa Chadha. It is the city that gave her a career, a family and countless memories. Yet, while putting together her new production, she realised that she barely knew it. She discovered a second-century BC Buddhist stupa hidden on the city’s outskirts. She revisited Gilbert Hill, the 65-million-year-old volcanic formation that most Mumbaikars pass without a second glance. She learnt how the city’s seven islands became one — how decisions made centuries ago still dictate the Mumbai we inhabit today, and found herself listening to communities whose stories rarely make it into history books.

That journey has now become Musafiri, an 8-part travel and culture series that premieres on August 15. The non-fiction series is charmed by the lesson known parts of Mumbai. Across eight episodes, Chadha speaks to historians, researchers, heritage enthusiasts and local communities to uncover the city’s overlooked histories and sub-cultures — from the Adivasi communities of Aarey and the Armenian churches of Mumbai to places that have quietly survived modernisation.

For Chadha, however, the project began long before a camera was switched on. “I have had this document that I have been working on and collating for a long time, maybe since just after college. Between 10 and 15 years, I have been collecting data about the unique things about our country. I have always thought India needs to be looked at the way we look at Europe culturally. Every place has a different language, a different set of beliefs, different textiles, and different local heritage. I wanted to go into not a fancy place, but exactly where I am right now and start from here. That’s why the first season is in Bombay.”

The more she researched, the more she realised that familiarity often breeds ignorance. “If I’ve lived here longer than I have in any other city, what does this city say to me? It speaks to you in different ways. It makes space for you. I have a lot of love for it and I wanted to see what about it could be preserved. Some of the foundations for the city we experience today in 2026 were actually laid in 1666.”

But Musafiri is careful not to become another heritage documentary. Chadha deliberately avoided the stories that have already been told.

“I’ve tried very much to stay away from things that have been done a lot in Bombay. Perspective is very interesting and important to me. It’s not only just history; it’s also culture. It’s also about living history. It’s also about archiving what remains. You’re going to Aarey and meeting people from the Waghoba community. But to see people actually worship the tiger, and understand how their livelihoods and ecosystems are built around that love for nature, that becomes very interesting. So it’s not just history. It’s also culture.”

Ironically, it was motherhood that convinced Chadha the project couldn’t remain a folder of research notes. “When I became a mother, I realized my childhood was so different from my daughter’s. Even though I live in a society where she has access to a park, to play areas, to the beach, everything has changed because of technology. After the postpartum haze settled, I kept wondering whether anybody would even read the essays I wanted to write ten years from now. So I thought, what can I do to visually preserve some of this fast-developing, fast-changing city?

Some of these facets may simply disappear. Earlier, buildings were made to last. Today they’re often built to be redeveloped. I wanted to archive what remains.”

The larger ambition, however, extends far beyond Mumbai. “I want Indians to rediscover India, particularly young Indians, Gen Z, and rediscover the ethos of India to see what they can make of it.”

She worries that somewhere along the way, Indians have drifted away from their own histories, languages and literature. “I honestly feel we know very little. Colonialism affected us very deeply. It’s not just about 200 years of slavery; it’s about what it did culturally. What happens to literature if people stop reading in their own languages? What happens to that inheritance?”

It is impossible not to think of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown while watching Musafiri, a comparison Chadha herself embraces, albeit cautiously.

“I did think of Anthony Bourdain because he was such a fascinating connoisseur of culture and food. I loved Parts Unknown. But I’m not Anthony Bourdain. What I admired was that he approached situations with a lot of love. This show is about looking at the diversity of India through a contemporary lens and reacquainting Indians with their own country.”

Musafiri is also the second production from Chadha and Ali Fazal’s banner Pushing Buttons, but unlike the studio’s previous outing, the actor was involved in every stage of its creation, from conceiving and writing the series to hosting it herself. She was equally clear about where it should be released. Instead of opting for a streaming platform, Chadha chose YouTube to ensure the series remained accessible.

“I wanted people to have access to it free of cost. Without a paywall or without a subscription, at least for the beginning. Also, when we were growing up, we had so many travel, chat and food shows that were really about culture. I wanted to make something in that spirit,” she says, adding, “I’m also nervous because this is the first time I’m doing it. I’ve come out after hibernation. But it’s just me taking my bag and a camera and going into the city, the way I’d want my viewers to.”

For an actor whose career has largely involved inhabiting fictional worlds, Musafiri offered something unexpectedly liberating.

“As an actor, you’re mostly playing somebody else’s character and mouthing somebody else’s lines. Here, I get to walk into Dharavi, have a cup of tea with someone I’ve never met, sit in their home and simply have a conversation. I love this country and I love the people of this country. If I had to sum up the show, I would say it’s about people, places and love.”

For a city that often races past its own history, perhaps slowing down is the most important journey of all.