New Film Gives Glimpse of Our Water Future in 2035

Hindi cinema has been notorious for its indifference towards socially relevant issues. A fantasy land, disconnected from reality. With Paani, Shekhar Kapur, attempts to meaningfully intervene within the space of the celluloid. The acclaimed cinema-maker, remembered for his stunningly realistic Bandit Queen and poignantly innocent Masoom, returns to his craft through a futuristic discourse. Paani is his film in the making.

Set in 2035, it portrays a dystopia when water is set to become a unicorn horn -- a non-existent and mythical commodity. How a society struggles as water disappears is the subject of Paani. Kapur narrates a scene, perhaps the most horrifying scene of the proposed movie, where thirsty mob attacks a car to steal water from its radiator.

Prabhakar Deshpande speaks with filmmaker Shekhar Kapur about his newest work.

Prabhakar Deshpande: Most of the Hindi films cinematize water-in rain songs, drought, sea shores, boat journeys. But is water so prominent an issue as to demand a full length feature film -- Paani?

Shekhar Kapur: It is. A mega-challenge. Historically water has always been a communal property even for the Kings. We had to work hard to get water from a communal facility. It is only in this century that water became a private property as it was directly piped into individual houses. It suddenly changed our psychology. Now we could get water easily. Mega cities were built as water pipes transported water to meet the needs of these newly emerging cities. This easy availability of water led to its wastage.

People are responsible for depletion of water and need to learn to behave. Government needs to act very responsibly. Hence this film.

PD: So you are constructing a hypothetical situation, a dystopia in your movie.

SK: It's not an absolute hypothesis. Water in taps can't last forever. Water is already in short supply. Global warming is already causing unpredictable monsoons. We can no longer see water as a separate resource. We need to be careful about usage of water. My grandparent's home in Nizamuddin (Delhi) had a garden watered by a hand pump. Now gardens have sprinkler systems. It has made watering easy and water gets wasted. It led to going down of the water table and there is no water in the hand pumps now.

Chennai already faces water shortage. While this is happening, people in five star hotels take shower for half an hour. Tourism in Goa is creating pressure on water in that region. So go anywhere, and you will see water as an issue.

I feel one way we should fight this issue is through children, who should be taught to become messengers of water. My daughter teaches me on usage of water.

PD: Is water tariff a way to regulate usage?

SK: I don't think that is the solution. More importantly, water tariff may be unfair, leading to injustice. Those who can afford will buy and get water. It will hit those people who can't pay.

While tariff is not the answer, hotels should be metered for their usage of water and this should get charged back to a guest.

Instead of tariff, availability and supply of water has to be more equitable.

PD: How did the idea of 'Paani' come to you?

SK: I believe it was Bansilal -- the politician -- who pointed to the disparity between the urban wastage of water and the rural scarcity of water.

One day I was waiting at a friend's home at Malabar Hill. He was taking shower for more than half an hour. So I left and on my way, at the Dharavi slums, I saw long queues for water. That prompted to reflect upon it.

PD: One understands water shortage, but does this prophecy of war over water shortage amount to overstretching the argument?

SK: Imagine if a city like Mumbai runs out of water. The problem may start with privatization of water. The Coca Cola groundwater dispute in Kerala is an example of conflict over water. If I had said in 1965 that people would bottle water and sell it at a good price, you would have considered me mad. But that's what you have today.