Watch (and laugh): What makes Mumbai a unique city? ‘We're not Delhi’

Mumbai’s real estate prices are never out of the news. When stand-up comedy artist Kunal Kamra claims he decided to pay Rs 6 crore – after “selling his mother’s jewellery” – for a flat in Andheri, all he could see, he says, was a peepal tree from the window.

Or, at least, that’s what he could realistically imagine. “Even the crow on that tree was judging me for spending so much,” he says in his routine (video above).

In reality, Kamra lives in Dadar.

Talking of the perception of Mumbai being cool, and, of course, the age-old comparison with India’s capital, he says, “That’s our current achievement. We’re not Delhi.”

But then, that could also be the case because most people born and brought up in Mumbai know little beyond the city, says Kamdar, and includes himself among them.

So when a fan asked when he could perform at Indore, he thoughtfully says, “Career acha chala, toh kabhi nahi.” (If my career goes well, then never).

Of course, jokes on the snobbish behaviour of Mumbai’s crowd and the skyrocketing property rates have been a constant fixture in stand-up comedy in the city.

When comedian Abhishek Upmanyu moved from Delhi, he was all set to play the stereotyped role of an aggressive Delhi native in Mumbai, until he met “nice people” in the local train who didn’t mind apologising for their mistake. Then came a spoof of a rich person from South Bombay: “They assume that everyone has money but don’t know how to spend it.”

Comedian Atul Khatri couldn’t help but poke fun at the way various suburbs, in a bid to better their image, were adopting names of the neighbouring posh localities and adding an adjective – such as “Upper Worli”.

The great divide between north and south Mumbai is generally based on the generic scale of boring to cool. Comedian Sapan Verma ridicules it by himself living the hip lifestyle in “town” and a pedestrian one in the suburbs: “It’s like being teleported from a Steven Spielberg film to a Sajid Khan film.”