When a girl is born in Piplantri, Rajasthan, the villagers celebrate by planting trees. But Piplantri isn't a utopia. For filmmaker Suraj Kumar, the place and what he found there became the foundation of a documentary that has recently won the 72nd National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values. It is set to be showcased at the 17th Indian Film Festival of Ireland in Dublin in mid-September.
Piplantri: A Tale of Eco-Feminism documents how a small village in Rajasthan transformed personal grief into a global model for environmental conservation and gender equality. The film revolves around Padma Shri Shyam Sundar Paliwal, a social activist of Piplantri, who started the initiative — residents now plant 111 trees for every girl child born — after the death of his 16-year-old daughter Kiran in 2006.
Instead of allowing tragedy to define his life, he transformed it into a broader cause and a source of hope for thousands of families. "The biggest creative challenge was balancing grief and hope," Kumar says.
For Kumar, the story was never just about trees or climate change—it was about hope, community and the power of ordinary people to create extraordinary change. The film shows community women taking newborn girls in small handmade baskets in a procession to the patch of land where the plantation would be done, in a celebration of hope.
Dr Garima Singh, the producer of the film and Suraj's partner, believes that the story deserves to reach people across India and beyond. "As the film progressed, Piplantri became much more than just another film for me — it became a cause that was close to my heart," she says.
Inspired by Delhi
In 1996, Kumar founded his own production company, Johnsons-Suraj Films International, in Delhi. The following year, he produced and directed his first television series for Doordarshan, Taranon Ka Fasana, on the unsung heroes behind Hindi film songs. In the past 27 years, he has produced and directed more than 1,500 television episodes, over 200 television commercials, and around 500 documentary films.
Kumar comes from a hamlet in Bihar, but Delhi shaped his journey as a filmmaker. He initially aspired to become a police officer, but it was while studying at JNU that he discovered theatre through street plays. A friend's suggestion to join the Indian Institute of Mass Communication further transformed his aspirations, shifting his focus to visual storytelling.
The director believes Delhi has much to learn from Piplantri's community-led environmental model. Referring to the capital's persistent struggles with pollution, shrinking green cover and climate extremes, he argues that government policies alone cannot solve the city's environmental crisis.
"I came across the story of Piplantri during my travels across India while documenting government development initiatives. The idea that an entire village celebrates the birth of every girl child by planting 111 trees immediately captivated me," Kumar says.
He says that the story brought together environmental conservation, women's empowerment and community participation in "such a simple yet powerful way that I knew it deserved to be told".
Championing eco feminism
Kumar says he initially approached the documentary as a story about ecological restoration in one of the world's largest marble mining regions. But as filming progressed, the narrative evolved into something much larger.
"When I started, my focus was on documenting environmental transformation," he says. "But during the course of filming, I realised the story was equally about celebrating the girl child and empowering women. The act of planting 111 trees for every girl born naturally connects climate action with gender equality. That's when the film truly became a story of eco-feminism that believes that protecting the environment and promoting gender equality should go hand in hand."
A turning point came during an interview with former United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, Shombi Sharp, who explained how Piplantri contributes to several UN Sustainable Development Goals by combining environmental restoration, gender equality and sustainable livelihoods.
"That conversation made me realise climate action and women's empowerment are not separate themes—they are inseparable," Kumar says. The filming took nearly 18 months because he wanted audiences to witness Piplantri through changing seasons.
"People may have heard about ecological transformation—I wanted them to experience it," he says. The camera rolls through winter, summer and the monsoon, depicting how the landscape changes through the seasons.
'People's ownership a must'
The biggest challenge, Kumar says, was the editing of the documentary. "Every story had value, but we had to shape them into a focused emotional narrative," he says. Some stories didn't make it to the final cut. The team documented Piplantri's efforts to generate livelihoods through handicrafts and aloe vera products, along with initiatives to revive traditional rural sports and community events. Kumar says the stories remain special but couldn't be included in the movie.
Drawing inspiration from Piplantri, the filmmaker has planted more than 200 saplings in his daughter's name over the past two years. "If every citizen contributes in small but meaningful ways—planting trees, caring for them, keeping public spaces clean—the collective impact can be enormous," Kumar says, asserting that Delhi's environmental problems stem from everyday behaviour. "Governments can plant millions of saplings, but unless citizens take ownership, lasting change is difficult," he says.