When young people in India dream of going abroad, they hope to get overseas experience and earn money 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, 2011. It was screened on NDTV in India, at film festivals, and in academic events such as the lecture series “Migration, Memory and the Art of Storytelling on Film” (2024). Research findings from the film were published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Visual Anthropology.