{"id":24329,"date":"2026-02-23T08:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24329"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:22:15","slug":"drives-me-crazy-mumbai-residents-plead-for-respite-from-musical-road-mumbai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24329","title":{"rendered":"Drives me crazy: Mumbai residents plead for respite from \u2018musical road\u2019 | Mumbai"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Residents of one of India\u2019s most upmarket neighbourhoods say the country\u2019s first \u201cmusical road\u201d has turned their daily lives into a nightmare soundtrack.<\/p>\n

A stretch of Mumbai\u2019s recently opened Coastal Road seafront expressway has been engineered to play the pulsating Oscar-winning tune Jai Ho from the movie Slumdog Millionaire when vehicles drive on it at lower speeds.<\/p>\n

Civic officials say the feature is intended to encourage safer driving and is the first of its kind in India.<\/p>\n

Most musical roads worldwide have been built in less populated areas, but Mumbai\u2019s runs past Breach Candy, home to industrialists, Bollywood stars and other high-profile celebrities.<\/p>\n

Residents say the refrain of Jai Ho, which roughly translates from Hindi as \u201clet there be victory\u201d, plays repeatedly from 6am until midnight.<\/p>\n

More than 650 families have signed a formal complaint urging authorities to stop the music, describing it as constant \u201cintrusive background noise\u201d that has caused significant distress.<\/p>\n

The tune \u201centers homes\u201d, the complaint says, and many households keep their windows shut to block it out.<\/p>\n

Japan pioneered the concept of a musical road in 2007<\/a>, and they have since appeared in countries including Hungary, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the US.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

In Mumbai, India\u2019s financial centre, civic officials pitched the project as a blend of engineering and entertainment and, most importantly, as a safety measure.<\/p>\n

Engineers have carved grooves in the asphalt that act like a giant vinyl record. When vehicles pass over them at between 45 and 50mph (70 and 80km\/h), vibrations produce the tune composed by the Indian musician AR Rahman.<\/p>\n

If they drive too fast, the vibrations become uncomfortable, motivating drivers to slow down. Signs alert motorists before the musical stretch, telling them the speed required to experience the tune.<\/p>\n

The 500-metre section was inaugurated on 11 February by the Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, who described it as a \u201cshowcase of innovation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Authorities have defended the feature as helping to keep drivers alert while reinforcing speed discipline, but resident do not agree.<\/p>\n

In their complaint to Mumbai\u2019s municipal commissioner and copied to the Maharashtra chief minister\u2019s office, they flag the \u201cauditory distraction on a high-speed road\u201d as a potential safety hazard.<\/p>\n

They also accuse the authorities of focusing on what they see as a speed-control gimmick while failing to address more urgent concerns, such as high-performance cars roaring along Coastal Road at breakneck speed.<\/p>\n

The music is not broadcast through loudspeakers, but residents say its repetitive nature makes it difficult to ignore. At a time when many cities are working to reduce noise pollution, Mumbai is moving in the opposite direction, they argue.<\/p>\n

The eight-lane Coastal Road has been controversial since it was first proposed in 2011. The $1.6bn project has cut the driving time between Marine Drive and Worli from 45 minutes to about 10.<\/p>\n

But critics say the taxpayer-funded motorway, built on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea, mainly benefits wealthier car owners, while the rest of Mumbai\u2019s 23 million residents have to rely on jam-packed buses and trains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Drives #crazy #Mumbai #residents #plead #respite #musical #road #Mumbai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of one of India\u2019s mo… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}