THE BURNT SOIL

"The Burnt Soil- A Story about a Forgotten Art and its Future" has a two-fold purpose; one, to save the ancient art of pottery from dying and two, to raise environmental awareness about the health hazards of drinking from plastic and paper cups. The documentary ends with the hope that people will choose to drink from clay cups and save the environment as well as help sustain the livelihood of a community of struggling potters.
The documentary intends to highlight how at present, the Potter community is in dire straits. Despite the labour they put into making these bhar's, they do not get adequate returns. These poor artisans begin their day at the crack of dawn. They gather the mud from the banks of the river Ganges, then start working on the mud giving it a form much like dough. They keep kneading the dough and discarding the impurities. After many such stages of kneading, eliminating, working on the fast wheel and dry baking, they finally put the best-looking cups into the kilns for baking at high temperatures. This back-breaking labour of love starts at early morning and ends only at midnight. And the next day they are back at it again without a break. Needless to say, the Potter community is stuck in a vicious cycle where they have no personal life, no time for skill development for other trades and absolutely zero chances of growth.