Billionaire Niranjan Hiranandani Takes Mumbai Local, Calls It ‘Insightful Personal Experience’

Real estate mogul and billionaire Niranjan Hiranandani recently ditched his fancy car and took a ride in Mumbai local train to beat traffic and save time. Hiranandani, the co-founder and managing director of real estate company Hiranandani Communities, shared a video of his short train journey on Instagram. The 73-year-old wrote, “Saving Time and beating Traffic with the City’s Lifeline, a journey from Mumbai to Ulhasnagar in an AC coach was an insightful personal experience #mumbaitrains.” This video has over 2.7 lakh likes since it was posted a day ago. Interestingly, many people were quick to point out that Hiranandani’s trip appeared pleasant because he was traveling during non-rush hours.

A post shared by Niranjan Hiranandani (@n_hiranandani)

Someone described the video as a “Billionaire PR Trip.” A person jibed, “When rich people travel by train once in their lifetime they film it.”

Dismissing Hiranandani’s sentiments towards public transportation, an Instagram user wrote, “Are we not going to talk about the chauffeured SUV that must be already waiting at Ulhasnagar station?” Expressing a similar sentiment, another person wrote, “Haha! Seriously though? Travelling during non-peak hours when even traffic is less, are you really benefiting anyone?”

However, some people found this video inspiring. An Instagram user wrote, “This is a nice trend setting example, many industry leaders should use public transport, that can encourage the government to provide better services to ppl!!”

This is not the first time that a rich and famous person took the Mumbai local in an attempt to beat traffic. In September 2016, actor Anil Kapoor travelled by Mumbai local to avoid the traffic during Ganesh Visarjan. The Bollywood star posted a photo from Vile Parle station on X and wrote, “What would have taken us 2 hrs today took us 20mins #lifeasweknowit On time for Visarjan #ganpatibappamorya.”

Similarly, in March 2017, actor Tiger Shroff was spotted traveling in a local train after his shoot. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, about commuting by a local train, he said “I got to see a different side of the world after a long time. I wish I could take a train every day, it would make travelling faster. We had been shooting in Vasai which is far from Bandra where I live. We packed up during peak hours and since there was traffic on the road then, I decided to take the train though people around me thought I was crazy.”