खोई खदान (The Lost Quarries of Navi Mumbai)

The film खोई खदान (the Lost Quarries of Navi Mumbai) tries to explore uncertainties faced by the quarrying community due to the loss of livelihood. The occupation of quarrying involves a large number of migrant communities working and living in precarious conditions. The scale of the quarrying industry reflects through the interdependencies of multiple livelihoods. This film looks at the challenges faced by the community to attain a form of livelihood in the landscape of the urban centre, Navi Mumbai. After the closure of quarries, uncertainty looms in the community to acquire foundational amenities such as jobs, housing, education, health and sanitation. 

The film tries to understand the communities settled in these newly planned cities and how the older forms of socio-economic structures of segregation have found new manifestations here.

ताल बेताल  (Taal betal)

The film looks into the past and the nearly-extinct future of an age-old profession which is being swallowed up by the rapid expansion of a city that is preparing to meet the challenges of a growing country in a new millennium. Water bodies in urban areas have only been looked at as infrastructural devices. The demographic socio-economic linkage for a large part, has been overlooked.

Chotelal and Nitesh represent the two sides of the growth story coin. Slums, sewer pipes and a rich history of water conservation form the backdrop of our tale. 

The voices of Chotelal and Nitesh fight to let their community be heard over the chaos and cacophony of development, urbanization and the ubiquitous and omnipresent growth story.

The Golden Fish

The film looks at Goa’s emerging casino industry and the subsequent livelihood situation in Goa. It draws close attention to the lack of planning in considering local communities while introducing new industries within a city and introspects upon the close relationship between livelihood and migration and the many consequences of it.

दारुडी (darudi)

‘दारुडी’ (Darudi) is a word in Bhantu language, meaning ‘liquor’. This film is about the Chhara community who are stigmatised as “criminals” due to its tainted colonial history. Because of this existing historical stigma in the society, women of the Chhara tribe have to brew liquor as a part of their livelihood and which is an act of prohibition/crime in the dry state of Gujarat. However, there is a negligible section from the Chhara society which is involved with small businesses and are trying to emerge out of their stigmatised life.

यह वक़्त हमारा है (The Present is ours)

Shot through the lens of Moin Khan – a young rapper and budding filmmaker, the film explores the challenges, struggles and triumphs of him and his neighbours in Govandi, Mumbai. It looks at how the Muslim youth are negotiating within their homes, where cultural norms and financial limitations dictate their aspirations, as well as outside in the city – where spatial boundaries dictate not just their present but their socio-economic future. It attempts to bring out how opportunity and aspiration intersects with cultural and spatial identity of people of Govandi, dictating their present and future.

Partnership below par

Partnership Below Par is a documentary that explores the story of four delivery “partners” as they navigate through the millennium city of Gurugram (previously known as Gurgaon), questioning how the city facilitates their ability to earn a living along with their stakes in this “partnership” within the gig economy.

Tailor Made City

Annaji, Sridhar and Jaya are 3 tailors who operate in very different spaces of the city. Yet they share the same set of skills. They found ingenious ways to survive. This film traces those stories of self-respect and pride. The tailors are a tribe which contributes to the maintenance of the city and its people. They are omnipresent.

An Ordinary Day

In the ‘Cast-off Capital’ of Panipat in Haryana, a year after the corona virus brought life to a standstill, the cloth recycling workers struggle again to find their footing against the backdrop of an industrial wasteland.

Podampeta is drowning anyway

Podampeta and many other Nolia fishing villages in the Ganjam district of Odisha are abandoned due to land erosion resulting from rising sea levels. The Nolia have been rehabilitated elsewhere, through the provision of a one room kitchen. The rehabilitation colonies are far from the ocean and, ultimately, these displaced fishermen lose their work, skills and culture. This leads to further migration to cities where they seek work as daily wage labourers. ‘Podampeta is Drowning Anyway’ is set between both the ghost villages and the abandoned rehabilitation colonies that stand witness to this crisis of livelihood and existence.