Delhi is simultaneously everyone’s city and nobody’s city. It is home to the highest number of migrant workers in India, with 21 percent of its population composed of external migrants, predominantly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These communities have created cultural enclaves scattered throughout the city, making Delhi a diverse yet ambiguous socio-cultural milieu.  Prateek Vats’ 2019 film, Eeb Allay Ooo!, explores the life of Anjani Prasad (Shardul Bharadwaj), a monkey-repeller in New Delhi, and traces the practice of monkey chasing, a community-driven craft originating from contractual laborers in the capital. The filmmaker draws from his experiences as a second-generation Bihari migrant in Delhi, and attempts to make sense of home and belonging. Being a resident and student in Delhi, Vats was motivated to make his debut feature film on the question of monkey-repellers’ response to the world around them, which, he says, “thrives on depriving its people of their…

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