‘Paani’ is the name of a film – to be released in 2011 – directed and written by Shekhar Kapur.
Paani – which is being cast now and will start filming in the coming months – will be launched with a press announcement and cocktail brunch at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be at this launch.
IMDb summarizes the plot as, “Thirty-five years into the future in a city of 20 million people, a war has begun in the quest for water known as the Water Wars between those that have water and those that do not.”
It is set “at a time when water has become a weapon of social and economic control.”
In 2005, Kapur explained in his blog, “Paani means water in Hindi. I had just come down from a friend’s place in Pali Hill, one of the more expensive residential areas of Mumbai. My friend had me waiting for half an hour while he showered. He lived on the 30th floor, and the slum where there was no water was just below his apartment building. This inequity in the most basic resource necessary for human survival set me thinking and a story developed.”
In April 2010 he wrote, “Twelve years ago when I was trying to get funding for Paani, every one said that I was talking about a fantasy film, that no one would identify with the problem. Today they say I must make the film because it is so relevant.”
The film will be produced by Oscar winner Barrie Osborne (The Lord of the Rings), Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), and author Deepak Chopra. Oscar winner AR Rahman is composing the music, while Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge) will be the film’s editor.
We will keep you posted on all the developments related to this film at Cannes. Kapur is also a jury member at the film festival this year, which runs May 12-23.
For Kapur’s ongoing blog about the film, go to http://shekharkapur.com/blog/category/paani/.
In the coming weeks, ilovepaani.com will be launched as a website for the film and related water issues.
