Film By: Rajarshi Sarkar, Vrishali Purndare, Joydip Das and Aritra Sarkar
Mentored By: Rajula Shah
City: Pune
Dagad ani Paani aims to address the real and metaphorical invisibility of groundwater – one of the first difficulties in understanding and managing the biggest resource of freshwater available to us. We imagined the film to emerge from an enabling process that reduces the distance between art/research & its social relevance/applications. After discussions with Rajula Shah – our mentor – we conducted workshops on groundwater with children from two different contexts of caste (and class).
With children we shared current research work being conducted on groundwater and children asked us questions that really gave a direction to our reflections and the filming process. Through observations, drawings and questions children reflected on social disparities and conflicts that they encountered.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, a leading scientist, generously adds to what one of the children says about illegal pumping of groundwater. We stayed with troubling questions that children pose, the questions point to the anxieties that they are growing up with.