Last month, Al Gore walked away with an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. In the global warming documentary film that has caught the attention of the world, Gore urges his viewers to bring down energy consumption.
Incidentally, this is the very same message that Indian documentary filmmakers have tried to convey over the years. Sadly, these films attract only a niche audience. ‘‘People in India, unlike the West, don’t understand the seriousness of the issue,’’ says three-time Green Oscar winner Mike Pandey. ‘‘They think global warming is a fantasy. Indians are using fossil fuel like never before. We have constructed oven-like buildings and spend enormous energy cooling them.’’ Pandey’s award winning film Global Warming went largely unnoticed when it was released here three years ago. Like any environmentalist, our documentary filmmakers are “concerned” about issues like global warming. But the lacklustre reactions of research agencies (who ‘‘support” the cause but don’t really come forward to fund documentaries), zero interest from broadcasters who, according to one filmmaker, prefer ‘‘sexy environmental stories’’, together with viewer apathy, are the reasons why the few impressive documentary films on climate change vanish after a few screenings at festivals.
Take the Public Service Broadcast Trust’s (PSBT) Open Frame, for instance, the annual documentary film festival held in Delhi. Or the roving environmental and wildlife film festival CMS Vatavaran, where open discussions are held after every screening. Barely a couple of films are chosen by the public broadcaster Doordarshan after they are screened at these two festivals, which is why most of the documentaries don’t ever reach the masses. ‘‘Public interest stories and documentaries are the last thing broadcasters want to show,’’ quips Pandey. ‘‘People like me are lucky to have found space on DD. Value-based programmes are nudged out so easily by broadcasters these days.” Ironically, even at festivals, global warming and climate change have lost the stage to other “juicy” issues. “We receive a large number of films on e-waste hazards, pollution and wildlife. However, this year we are expecting the number of films on climate change to go up,’’ says Mou Biswas from CMS Vatavaran. ‘‘Vatavaran 2007 is a global warming special and we are even hoping to rope in Al Gore.’’
In spite of the seeming indifference in the country to these issues, documentary filmmakers in the Indian subcontinent, who spend most of their time tracing a tiger or wooing the whale-shark, have chosen not to ignore the ‘‘scary’’ implications and impacts of climate change. A few years ago, when Mike Pandey returned to his favourite spot in Austria to capture a snowcap for one of his films, he was shocked to see it had melted. He says, ‘‘I had seen the ice cap the previous year. I had to go deeper into the area to get my shots. It’s common in Austria to see ice caps vanishing. You see blossoms and splendid crops in many areas.’’ After Earth Matters, which is being shown on Doordarshan, Pandey is coming up with a series of six films on global warming, which will talk about ‘‘using alternative energy for the future.’’ Whenever out for shoots at Lakshwadeep, Kochi and Gujarat, Pandey has been noticing ‘‘visible changes’’ in ‘‘ocean ferocity’’ and where the sea neighbours the land. ‘‘The water has come in a bit more into the land over the years,’’ he observes. ‘‘You don’t have to be a scientist to notice these changes; you can see it all happening now. Unfortunately, people living along the Indian coastline will be the first ones to face any kind of major impact,’’ he adds.
Another documentary film, The Wailing Glaciers, has enough material to worry you for a lifetime. The 20-minute film by Manmohan Singh, a Chandigarh-based journalist, narrates how the glaciers in the western Himalyan region, including the Beas-Kund glacier, which is melting at an alarming rate (20 to 50 meters according to a previous study) have bared crevices over the years. Singh, who had gone trekking in the area ‘‘several times’’, could not resist recording this deterioration. ‘‘I usually visit the Himalayas in October. It’s snowing at the glaciers at that time, but the snow melts really quickly; leaving behind ugly crevices and moraines. The glaciers look really eerie with these crevices. Compared to the pictures I clicked of these glaciers a few years ago, the recent ones look ugly and worrying.’’ Singh’s next project is on the formation of glacier lakes in the region. ‘‘This phenomenon is equally worrying. While the existing lakes are drying up in the lower Himalayan region, like the Prashar Lake, which has now been reduced to a pond, the glacier lakes pose bigger threats. They break and cause floods when they melt.’’ Naturalist, wildlife photographer and filmmaker Suresh Elamon who frequents the Periyar Tiger Reserve and areas of the Western Ghats noticed that a few varieties of orchids have stopped flowering of late. ‘‘The rain pattern in Kerala has changed during the last couple of seasons. Flowering patterns have changed accordingly. As far as the Silent Valley is concerned, one needs to really study the changes over a period of time before drawing conclusions,’’ he cautions. Interestingly,
Indian filmmakers avoid blaming the world’s superpowers or the Indian government when it comes to addressing problems related to climate change. They would rather like their films to explain how the world could use the resources in order to deflect the challenges posed by the rising heat. Like Ramesh Menon, a journalist from Delhi who tried doing something similar in Global Warning, a 20-minute film which focuses on Kolkata, costal areas in Orissa and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ‘‘People in Orissa told me they have noticed the sea level rise to an alarming extent in the past few years. There is also a constant fear among people in Bangladesh about the rising sea levels,’’ says Menon. Then there is Meltdown in Nepal, a 13-minute documentary in English by Naresh Newar, a senior journalist from Nepal. Made in 2004, shot entirely in Solukhumbu district – the country’s biggest tourist attraction. ‘‘To decision makers, the problem seems too far away,’’ states the film, candidly.
Naresh Bedi, another Green Oscar winner and veteran wildlife filmmaker from Delhi, has always been more occupied with the cat family for his projects. The threat to about 400 tigers in Sunderban, owing to the rising sea waters, is what he wants to reflect upon next. So what’s stopping him? ‘‘Lack of funds. The cost of filming is too high. Around Rs 40, 000 to 50, 000 per day. I cannot afford it. Where are the people who will fund it?’’ Like Bedi, Nutan Manmohan, who managed to screen a hard-hitting film in Vatavaran 2005 on e-waste hazards, has to ‘‘wait’’ till she gets an agency to fund a film on global warming. ‘‘Apart from the cost of filming, a lot of research goes into this subject. Agencies like TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute) should come forward to help us,’’ she says.
Some choose to disagree. Like this filmmaker who doesn’t want to be named, who says that agencies like TERI fund films, but for their own commercial gains. ‘‘And the sad part,’’ he says, ‘‘is that they buy films from people like us on really low costs and screen them later and make money from that.’’ Veterans like Mike Pandey believe in ‘‘common sense’’ when approaching a subject. ‘‘Such ventures are difficult to fund. But that’s part of the game. As a filmmaker, your job is to get the message across to people. My film on disappearing vultures caught the government’s attention. It had an impact on policy makers. And that’s where you need to hit first.’’
Coming back to An Inconvenient Truth, Anitha S, an environmentalist from Thiruvananthapuram says she is doubtful the film will be understood by people in India. Anitha watched clips from An Inconvenient Truth at a private screening in Lakshadweep, last weekend. It was ‘‘a recording of manicured reactions to the film at screenings held across the world.’’ People in India don’t really understand the subject, she says, adding, ‘‘They think global warming is all about rising sea levels. But it’s much more than that.’’
Well, who can explain this better than our homegrown documentary filmmakers?
copyright: The New Indian Express
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