From the fringes, another gem by documentary makers Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena

Renu Sud Sinha

Veteran documentary makers Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena picked up yet another award recently for their latest project, ‘Lakshmanrekha’, that tells the story of a school dropout who revived his village’s water sources in the deserts of Rajasthan using traditional methods. It received two Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) Awards 2024 — silver award in the environment and wildlife category and gold for cinematography.

With three National Film Awards to their name, awards are not something new in their 30-year journey. “But to be recognised and awarded by your peers feels special,” says Kavita.

Their oeuvre of nearly 40 documentaries has always focussed on people living on the fringes and how traditional wisdom has kept them as well as their ecosystems alive.

For these former journalists, these cinematic stories from the ground are a continuation of the people’s journalism they practised in their ‘previous life’, as Nandan calls it. “We didn’t choose our films, the films chose us.”

Their first film, ‘Agraria: The Sons of Fire’, was about the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, while ‘Cotton for My Shroud’ dealt with the issue of farmer suicides in Vidarbha. “‘Cotton…’ only focussed on the men. But what happened to the women who were left behind? ‘Candles in the Wind’ told the stories of widows of Punjabi farmers dealing with the burden of their husbands’ debts, taking care of children, ageing parents and the chemically-abused fields,” says Kavita.

“We shot in Mansa, Sangrur and Bathinda, where maximum suicides had taken place. Despite hardships, these resilient women were re-negotiating the rules of engagement with courage and dignity,” recalls Nandan about the documentary, which also won the National Award.

“After ‘Candles…’, we were exploring a topic for our next documentary. We had met Anupam Mishra, an eminent environmentalist and Gandhian, many times and read his book, ‘Aaj Bhi Khare Hai Talab’, a seminal work on water harvesting based on traditional methods. We wanted to make a film on his inspiring work. He directed us, instead, towards Lakshman Singh,” says Kavita.

Motivated by Mishra’s book, a resolute but simple man had turned drought-hit Lapodia, a village near Jaipur, into an oasis with his unorthodox idea of filling the dry ponds by harvesting rainwater. ‘Lakshmanrekha’ documents Singh’s unrelenting efforts — how he convinced the villagers to join him in digging shallow pits or chaukas that slowed the surface runoff of rainwater, maximising ground water recharge. When the crops eventually flourished, nearly 60 more villages adopted this chauka system. A sheepish government, initially unconvinced and indifferent, adopted the system for 700 villages.

Most of the projects of these independent film-makers, who have also made documentaries for Prasar Bharti, United Nations Development Programme, Al Jazeera English and the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, are a labour of love and majorly self-funded. “Sometimes, the grants only recover travel expenses,” says an undeterred Nandan. The self-taught duo has been holding filmmaking workshops to generate funds. But funds or not, work on their next documentary, ‘Whispers of the Desert Wind’, has already started.

“We are also venturing into feature films. Two scripts are ready and one of them is based on the legend of Meera,” says Nandan. These stories may become movies in the coming years, but making documentaries will remain their first love. As Nandan puts it simply, “It is our life.”

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