Nila Madhab Panda’s Next Is A Thought Provoking Crime Environment Film

Nila Madhab Panda’s Next Is A Thought Provoking Crime Environment Film

National Award winning Odia filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda, acclaimed for projects like ‘Kadvi
Hawa’ and ‘I Am Kalam’, is currently working on the script for his next film. This will be a crime
environment film set in the near future. Panda’s yet untitled film will further his drive to chronicle stories of climate change on screen.

His next film is a crime investigative environment project set in the near future, Panda shared
recently. It’s a new genre for him. “It’s almost like how would you survive without rivers?,” said
Panda, throwing light on the subject. The writing is going on and it’ll take at least a year to go on
floors. Panda had the idea for a long time but now he’s finally working on it.

Panda’s Odia film ‘Kalira Atita’ was screened in the Indian Panorama, non-feature film section at
the IFFI festival at Goa. The 46-year-old filmmaker is known for highlighting social and
environmental causes through his work and has received numerous accolades for them.
His 2018 release ‘Halkaa’ was the story of a young slum boy from Mumbai who dreams of
owning a toilet, while ‘Kadvi Hawa’ was based on true stories from drought-prone areas. It
received a Special Mention at the 64th National Film Awards.

‘Kalira Atita’ deals with the impact of climate change through the story of a man who has lost his
home and family to the sea. The film was shot in 2019 with a crew of 60 people. The film is a
striking reality born out of a newspaper clipping he saw where a hand pump was submerged in
the sea in Odisha.

When he did his research for the film, he got to learn how four villages got submerged on the
coast of Odisha. The director feels that it is difficult to even imagine the impact of climate
change on the future of humanity. He shares that he may not be able to change people’s
thinking but at least he can raise questions that are pertinent.

Panda’s 83 minute movie places the emotional trauma of a man at the centre of the story and
traces the devastating effects the tragedy has on him. The protagonist in the film is a victim of
the often overlooked yet most important emotional impact of climate change. It turns out that the sea engulfs his village after which he comes to think that his family and his village have gone to the sea.

He starts believing that there awaits a better world for him. The film focuses more on the
emotion of that man. Kalira Atita means yesterday’s past and the protagonist is literally living in
the past.