VIJAYAWADA: Two documentaries, produced by an engineering student from Kanpur and a three-member student team of SRM University, Chennai, respectively have cast a spell on the audience at the three-day National Film Festival ‘Gran Kinos -2015’, on the last day on Friday.
The film festival was organised by the Department of Visual Communication and Animation of the Andhra Loyola College.
Produced on a low budget and without sophisticated equipment like the 5D mark camera and on a low budget, both the documentaries — one a 40 minute documentary on the present plight of River Ganga and the other on the life of a rickshaw-puller — were well applauded by the audience. Both had low background music.
The documentary ‘Ganga Tera Pani’ with its gripping visuals clearly explained how the 1,500-mile-long Ganga river, which was considered the holiest river in India, was being polluted and how a responsible citizen could stem the rot.
‘Ganga Tera Pani’, the brainchild of 26-year old Aravind Kumar, an engineering graduate and a native of Kanpur, was to focus on the catastrophe awaiting River Ganga river. He created the documentary with the help of his eight friends.
“My 70-year-old grandmother even today recalls and compares the clean image of Ganga of her childhood days with the present contaminated river and feels depressed. You know, during its passage from Kanpur to Banaras, the river gets 250 MLD of untreated sewage from various municipalities and chemicals from 1,400 odd cotton, textile, and leather industries and many other factories in the region”, said Aravind.
The documentary reveals the unknown and unpleasant truths about the pollution of the River Ganga and says that it was high time the issue was taken seriously and every effort made by individuals to reduce it.
“In a recent survey conducted by the United Nations, it was clearly mentioned that due to the steady increase in environmental pollution of the River Ganga, it would soon turn into a seasonal river after a few years, if care was not taken to reduce the water pollution. Unfortunately, the government initiative to clean the river through the ‘Swachh Bharat’ drive is not of much help in this regard,” he explained.
“To get the real story of the pollution of River Ganga, we approached several fishermen and other boatmen, whose livelihoods are threatened by it. Through this documentary we are highlighting the responsibility of a citizen to make Ganga clean”, Aravind said.
Meanwhile, the other documentary, a docu-drama on the life of a Chennai rickshaw-puller and his rickshaw named ‘Akash’ with simple shots and a beautiful narration by a girl in the background, focuses attention on the hard life of this poor man’s family.
“We have captured the daily routine and pains of the rickshaw-puller, who works hard everyday to keep his family happy, to spread the message “Believe in yourself, Help others and Work hard”, explained Charan.