Artist Creates A Terrifying Story And Concept Art For Post Apocalyptic Mumbai In The Year 2098

MUMBAI, INDIA 2098

"After the corporations ran the global government into the ground, billions of the poorest souls around the world were left to fend for themselves. Ninety percent of the fifty point three million people in Mumbai have settled into a sprawling third world slum city.

The extremely wealthy around the world sheltered from the corporate funded warfare and the grasping fingers of the impoverished citizens in self contained cities called Arcologies.

Now, decades after the collapse, a gang of three Indian orphans struggle to survive under the shadow of Mumbai’s Arcology. They scavenge in the abandoned techno-industrial wastelands outside the city, sifting for lost intel and valuable resources in the overgrown and derelict ruin of the decadent past.

Out there, in the reclaimed wild; braving crumbling buildings, toxic waste, and rusting murderous drones, crafty but innocent hands will discover a world-ending evil that was better off forgotten. "

Artist Kushal Tikle has created a vision of post apocalyptic Mumbai in the year 2098, inspired by a story from Thoughtgunshells Studio. It is a time when corporations rule the city and large areas have been converted to industrial wastelands.

Speaking about his inspiration, Kushal says “I wanted to recreate the post apocalyptic environment depicted in movies like Blade Runner, but with a more earthy, Indian colour palette. I developed upon a concept story of 3 orphans from the slums of Mumbai who are leading a resistance against the evil corporations who have taken over the region. In their greed they have turned much of the city into an industrial wasteland with people forced to live in misery. The three orphans basically build air-ships from scrap found in the industrial wastelands in and around Mumbai. For the moods, I relied heavily on the imagery of slums of Mumbai.”

Kushal’s heroes are arming themselves for a final battle with machines and ships built from scrap found in the vast wastelands. Kushal’s concept art, while futuristic, contains instantly recognisable elements and materials from Mumbai’s sprawling slums.

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Mumbai city has an energy so intense that one gets immediately sucked into it, and while doing this sketch artist Kushal Tikle was looking to design and compose an architecture / a zone to achieve that same feeling. His inspirations were the Dharavi slums in Mumbai. Kushal imagined these vertical slums and built-forms to depict the scale and the volume of Mumbai in 2098.

This sketch shows the lowlife in Mumbai as opposed to the crashes and advancement of the corporation that’s governing it. The inspiration came from the actual slums, the dhobi ghats of Mumbai, train wreckages, garbage dumps, etc.

A tall slum building serves as the hideout / alternate home for the orphans. It is accessed through a tunnel in the building’s side.

‘Dhakkan’ in Hindi means a lid, its also a slang word used to call someone an ‘idiot’ or ‘stupid’. It has been self constructed and designed by the orphans of Mumbai from the junk available in the slums and the industrial wastelands. It was designed keeping in mind the scrap that could be available like canvas cloth, wooden planks, jet engines, chariot vehicle parts, streetlights, etc.
Special features : Thrust pod / eject pod. Designed for rapid pursuits and capturing drones & other gang-war vehicles.

Specifications:
Dimension : 16mts x 5mts approx.
Construction : Scrap material, basic steel framework.
Armament : Laser blasters

This vehicle was designed for the three orphan protagonists in the story. Its named ‘Baap’, a hindi word which means ‘father’, also used in the daily slang in india. The word suited the design and its energy as it is the orphans’ home ship and their battle and rescue ship. It is made out of junk materials from the slums, for example, asbestos sheets, wooden boards, metal scrap, pulleys, satellite towers, car parts, etc.

‘Pagdi’ in hindi means turban. This is a cargo ship for loading, unloading, also could be used as a travel ship. It was developed based on the Indian turban design.
Specs:
Dimension : 14mts x 4 mts approx.
Cargo capacity : 500 kgs
Crew : 3-4 persons

The rear fabric has a temporary camouflaging feature for escaping or hiding from enemy pods and patrolling drones.

‘Jaadi’ in hindi means fat. This vehicle is a concept for the public transport in the story. A lot of domestic transport of India and Pakistan was referred to while designing this. The front part of the vehicle is a hood of an old car in India named ‘The Ambassador ‘.
Specs :
Dimension : 8mts x 7mts approx.
Max. Altitude : 4 kms.
Max. trip range : 150 kms
Crew : 2
Passengers : 4-5 persons
Armament : none