'Kalira Atita' looks at the emotional impact of climate change, says Nila Madhab Panda

Kalira Atita is an Odia movie directed by Nila Madhab Panda. The movie is about villages being consumed by the sea. Kalira Atita had made its entry into the Oscar race in the general entry category for best picture, Best Actor and Best Director, among others. Soon after, Panda spoke of the making of the film and the emotional impact of climate change.

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Filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda talks about Kalira Atita 

Nila Madhab Panda explained that in 2006 he saw a picture of a hand pump that was on the coast of the Bay of Bengal which was on a front-page article in a newspaper. He was shocked to see that and was curious to know more. Later, he came to know that four out of seven villages in the area had gone under the sea by 2006. One could see remnants of the villages in the sea with muddy houses and half school buildings that were left which led to the inception of the film. 

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It was shocking for him to know that the hand pump from which they used to drink water, was the one that was consumed by the sea. He said Kalira Atita is a film of his emotional trauma of seeing villages being consumed by the ferocious sea. He wondered what those people who lost their lives, families and livelihood went through which is why he called the film Kalira Atita which meant 'yesterday’s past'.

Panda stated that Odia poet Achyutananda once said that the seawater will soon enter the Puri temple. The story of the film is about a man who went in search of work and when he came back to his village, it had gone under the sea. He said, “Call it whatever you like, science or astrology, both have come true.”

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He went on to explain the frequency of cyclones is increasing because humans have damaged the environment already. The main character of the film is waiting for another cyclone to come and take him home because his family is there. It is a kind of a scary approach he has taken to make people realize that they have already damaged the environment and the whole ecosystem of the environment has changed. The dynamism of the river and sea is changing and it is changing fast. The film is looking at the emotional impact of climate change.

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(Source: Outlook India)