It started with me stopping random autorickshaws on the road and asking them “Chaloge, Bhaiya?” I had no clue at any point as to where they were taking me,” Aryaan Misra, co-founder of Desi Studios and the co-host of Desi Crime Podcast, tells us when we broach the topic of his latest digital project, Chaloge Bhaiya? that premieres on YouTube today. Shot as a six-episode series, where Misra takes viewers through multiple auto rides in the city, the series uncovers those unknown addas, eateries and bars frequented by Mumbai’s autorickshaw drivers, or as Misra puts it “Places you wouldn’t find in a food blogger’s list.”

So, how did he hop on this idea? “Three years ago, I was working as a producer on investigative crime shows in New York City, and would regularly take the subway. That is when I started thinking about how extensive public transportation is. When I moved to Mumbai about a year ago, I was fascinated by autorickshaws here. They are one of the most cost-efficient and functional modes of commutation we have. The very fact that a Bollywood film star was taken to hospital in an autorickshaw after an attack tells you a lot about how it is one of the biggest equalisers in society,” Misra explains. But the idea was marinating in his head for quite some time, we learn.