Scarce

SCARCE began with an essay and a challenge. The essay in question is called “The Great Derangement” by Amitav Ghosh and speaks to how difficult it is for storytellers to write about climate change due to its immensely slow-moving and gradual nature. This was the challenge.

As an answer to Ghosh’s dilemma, I wanted to write a grounded story about a real world problem from the eyes of the most powerless. I grew up in India which, despite having 18% of world’s population, only has 4% of its water resources. And, every year, 45% of this available water is lost due to mis-management, bureaucracy and theft.

In SCARCE, I use my filmmaking to answer the question: what can I do against something so complex and large as water scarcity? Through me, so do my characters.

Coming from nothing, my protagonist Saras, has already struggled all her life. So much so that she doesn’t see herself to be an integral part of bigger problems. Her son, Rounak, however, clashes with her world-view forcefully. His own journey leads him to a point where there is no other option left but violence. SCARCE argues that by bringing humanity and focusing on the most vulnerable harmed by these issues, we may be more compelled to get moving.

While shooting the film in the Kurla slums of Mumbai, we were moving the crew from one location to another, when a serendipitous moment occurred. A resident, a stout Marathi woman with a no-nonsense attitude stopped the crew in its tracks, “Are you water department people?” She had noticed the prop municipal ID around the neck of the main actress.

She used her saree to wipe her sweat and asked, “When is the water coming back?” I replied, “I don’t know but I’m making a movie about it.” She broke into a large grin and replied, “Well, okay, if your movie helps find someone. You send them to me.”

I promised to do just that.