Celluloid movement

While the world is taking frantic steps to conserve water and build plants to ensure its availability, Indian filmmakers have been quietly doing their bit too. No, they aren���������t giving speeches or holding cultural shows to spread awareness. Instead, they���������ve been speaking about the crisis through their films.
Twenty-nine years ago, veteran K Balachander, in his Thaneer Thaneer, spoke about the efforts taken by the people of a remote village to get authorities to notice their struggle for water.Several years later, director K V Anand spoke about a prototype of a desalination plant that the government could adopt to solve the water crisis in his Kana Kanden. And now, Shekher Kapoor is working on Paani, a film that talks about a city where people war with their neighbours for water. Smita Thackeray too has announced a film with Randhir Kapoor and Reemma, which will address the crisis.
Producer Pushpa Kandaswamy says, ���������Cinema is a strong medium of communication. When my dad (K Balachander) made Thaneer Thaneer, he was told that the film would be banned from being screened in certain regions of Tamil Nadu because it was very sensitive. He actually was happy about it because he felt he was able to create an impact.���������
Director Shekher Kapur, agrees and adds, ���������After the hullabaloo surrounding global warming, I think water as an urban theme makes a lot of sense. Reports suggest that the water table in our country can���������t support agriculture anymore; it���������s depleted, not depleting. We need to find ways to restore it now. In Paani, I have tried to tell the story of a city from the future which has a population of 30 million. The city���������s populace is divided into two ��������� those who can afford water and those who have to fight for it.���������
However, environmentalist and social activist Dhivya Kannan is of the opinion that issue-based films fail to garner a large enough viewership to make a mark. ���������How many people are going to watch a film that doesn���������t have a comedy scene or a kuthu sequence? Mainstream directors are under pressure to make their movies, even if they have a social theme, commercially viable. This invariably results in divergence from the main subject.���������
While efforts are being taken to raise awareness, Pushpa feels that there should be more such moves and movies. She concludes, ���������I don���������t know how far mainstream directors will succeed in communicating the water issue through their movies. Usually, such films are viewed only by a certain section of the audience. Do Boond Pani by K A Abbas, which came out in 1971, was a good effort. It is in the hands of the young audience to support filmmakers who want to talk about sensitive issues in their films.���������