Category: Paani

Those are the first words in the Script for Paani. The film tells the story of a city divided into two. Those few that can afford water, and those that cannot and have to fight for it. And those that can afford it protect it with armed might. It tells the story of one year [...]

Completely jet lagged from my flight from NY, I thought perhaps that I would indulge in a hot bath in my hotel room in Powai (Mumbai),. And I felt really guilty doing so. I imagined the water lying in the bathtub and looked out of the window and saw a slum. I wondered how many [...]

I often wonder why the Indian press does not take up this issue - nor does the Indian government. The huge calamity looming over India right now, that will potentially make economic growth grind to a halt is not the US subprime crisis, but the shortage of ground water that is gradually eating away at [...]

As part of the script development for my next film Paani (water) I have made certain assumption, one of which is that rural ground water will be depleted to satisfy the needs of the mega ciites, causing famine in rural areas, leading in turn, to huge migrations to the Mega cities. Creating unsustainable Mega Cities. [...]

For those of you that have not heard of Irena Salina, look out for her name. She has just made a terrifying, informative, well researched documentary on the future of fresh Water resources on our Planet. She shows how gradually all the main Water resources are being usurped by major water corporations all over the [...]

My assistant went out and shot a little video in Colaba, in Mumbai. There's no water in the taps in this area. It is served by Water Tankers, that come once a day if you are very lucky, and you queue up for hours to get water. A few burly guys are pushing and pulling [...]

Dear Shekhar I have been volunteering as project co-ordinator for an international water film festival titled Voices From the Waters. The first edition was held in Bangalore in 2005. The second was held in June last year and it is still continuing as a travelling film festival across cities, small towns and institutions across the [...]

Every year, over 500,000 children in India never reach the age of 5 because of water-related diseases like diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hepatitis. Over 300 million Indians have no access to toilets. Already, 224 million Indians live in water stress. About 70% of irrigation needs and 80% of municipal water supplies come from groundwater sources. However, depleted [...]

We have forgotten how to worship water. After all if water is available to you on tap, and in the same place as you do your daily toilette , how could you even respect it ? Water to us has become functional - so we have started to take it for granted. It is now [...]