Ae dil hain mushkil jeena yahan/ Zara hatke, zara bachke, yeh hain Bombay meri jaan (It’s not easy to live here, my love/ Watch your step, this is Bombay, my sweetheart) — if there’s anything that we remember about this song from CID (1956) apart from an animated Johnny Walker, it is the open horse-drawn carriage that he rides. Also known as Victorias, the carriage in the black-and-white film takes us down Marine Drive, rides past the city’s textile mills, kaali-peeli (black-and-yellow) taxis and trams (a service that shut down in 1964). A little more than 20 years later, in Amar Akbar Anthony , Vinod Khanna and Shabana Azmi are seen romancing in another Victoria. This time, the carriage slices through the water at Juhu Beach. In Hum Tum , a 2004 adaptation of When Harry Met Sally , the carriage makes a brief appearance as Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji’s love vehicle.
These are only a few of Bollywood’s famous ‘Victoria’ moments. And there won’t be any more additions to the list. By June 2016, these carriages will go off Mumbai roads. Agreeing with animal rights groups that the horses are malnourished, overworked and denied medical attention, the Bombay High Court declared the carriages “illegal” in June 2015. It also ordered the shutdown of all stables connected with the trade.
The ban translates into loss of livelihood for 700 families. The animal rights groups may have a plan for the horses but little has been said or done for the carriage drivers. Noor Mohammed, 24, is one of them. His future is uncertain. But what troubles him is the court’s opinion that all the horses on Mumbai roads are mistreated. “Taking care of a horse involves a lot of money and I am an honest, responsible owner. I take good care of my horses,” he says.
Kasim, another carriage owner, cannot think of another source of income. “I have always been a carriage driver. I have no other skills. And no one from the government has contacted us for rehabilitation,” he says.
With less than a year in business, the Victorias are busy making the most of Mumbai’s enthusiasm for joyrides.