Water vagaries on celluloid

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">KOLKATA: Urmi Chakraborty made her debut on the big screen with Hemanter Pakhi — her first full length feature film and bagged the National Award this year. She was already a familiar face on Bangla television with serials like Probaho, Indoor and Iskaboner Bibi. Having also won a National Award for her documentary, Infiltrators, Urmi is at present working on another documentary highlighting the global water crisis.She spoke to Nuzhat Aziz on her current project.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You are working on a documentary on international water crisis? </span><br />There is a major shortage of water in the world. According to a report published by the UNO there will be a crisis of fresh water by 2025. I am stressing the importance of water and the need to use it intelligently. I am highlighting India and will also focus on Nepal, Bangladesh, Africa and middle East.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What prompted you to choose this particular subject?</span><br />I love to work on social issues. I generally work on issues which compel me to think. Water is a necessity in everyone’s lives and is an extremely interesting subject. I have been working on this project for the last three and a half years. I read a lot of books, surfed the Net and discussed with experts before deciding that I would be working on this particular subject.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">How do you intend to portray the crisis and help people understand the importance of water?</span><br />It will be a one hour documentary and will focus on the importance of water and the problems which we would face if there is a serious water crisis. Even though the documentary is going to deal with global water crisis, my main focus is India. I will try and hold private screenings and approach different film festivals. I will also try and screen the documentary on BBC, Discovery and Doordarshan. It will also be an interesting subject for students and NGOs dealing with water crisis.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Do you intend sticking to documentaries? </span>Infiltrators was based on Bangladeshi infiltrators. I have done several documentaries but, do not want to restrict my work to one particular area. I love to work on issues which are close to people’s heart. I do not have a language barrier too. My documentary on water is in English. I would love to do regional films too.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What are your future projects?</span><br />I handle projects one at a time. I am presently concentrating on the documentary on water. It should be ready for screening next year. I am not sure what I will be working on in future. </div> </div>