A film about Indian youth in London and their parents in India.
Young people all over the world dream of going to the West. They hope to earn money and get overseas experience to improve their positions at home. But once they arrive, they end up in low-status jobs and living crammed into small houses with other newly arrived migrants.

This film follows the daily life in one such house in East London. The bunker beds are filled with young Indians, all from relatively wealthy families in Gujarat. When they return to visit India, their families have great expectations of their sons and daughters. Will these youngsters fulfil their own and their families' dreams?

Living like a Common Man was made by Sanderien Verstappen, Mario Rutten and Isabelle Makay in London and Gujarat, 2011. It has been screened on NDTV in India, at 16 film festivals, 16 public venues, and 38 academic venues (conferences/courses), and has been used as teaching material in undergraduate courses about migration and globalisation.

Find more information about the film in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and in the journal Visual Anthropology. If you are interested in purchasing the film for teaching purposes, you can find contact/sales information here .