Livelihood and Living Traditions

Image Credits: Tailor Made City, Nagari 2021

When livelihoods disappear and become stigmatised, what happens?

Join us for a screening of Nagari films that look at various ways in which communities’ livelihoods and living traditions are stripped, held against, or deemed obsolete.  This will be followed by a conversation between the Assistant Director Tanvi Karia from Charles Correa Foundation and filmmakers Niki Nirvikalpa and Rajeev Malagi.

About the films

01. Olam I Chennai

Directed by Priyadharshan Anand, Nagendran Arumugam, Arunmani Vasu and Dishon C Prince, the film explores the tale of the Kosasthalai river. It is narrated by Kumaresan, a native fisherman, voicing for the land, the people, its flora and fauna.

02. The Bhavi Project I Bangalore

By Rajeev G Malagi and Smruti Balvalli

The ‘Bhavi project’ documents the changing narrative of open wells as physical systems of water storage and their association with communities. The film is developed on a fundamental premise: ‘What is the future of cities without open wells?’ 

03. The Many Journeys of Water I Tiruchirapalli

By Niki Nirvikalpa, Sugantha Priscilla and Prasanth Kumar K

The journey of water doesn’t end at the toilet when you flush it. The journey of ‘wastewater’ or sewage, as it is now known, begins here. 

04. Tailor Made City I Bangalore

By Purna, Himadri Das, Arvind Dev, Montry Thaalavattam, Karthik Murali and Ravikumar A.S 

Three tailors who operate in very different spaces of the city, yet they share the same set of skills. They have found ingenious ways to survive. This film traces those stories of self-respect and pride. The tailors are a tribe which contributes to the maintenance of the city and its people. They are omnipresent.

05. Darudi I Ahmedabad

By Atish Indrekar and Ruchika Chhara

‘दारुडी’ (Darudi) is a word in the Bhantu language, meaning ‘liquor’. This film is about the Chhara community, who are stigmatised as “criminals” due to their tainted colonial history. Because of this existing historical stigma in society, women of the Chhara tribe have to brew liquor as a part of their livelihood, which is an act of prohibition/crime in the dry state of Gujarat. However, there is a negligible section of the Chhara society which is involved with small businesses and is trying to emerge from their stigmatised life.

06. Cycle of Life I Nagpur

By Swanand Kottewar, Rahul Jambhulkar, Aniket Kolarkar & Sanket Ray

The cycle, is often dismissed as a relic of the past, has been an important means of mobility and livelihood for over a century. Cycle of Life is an intimate exploration of change witnessed through the life of Umesh Sarate, an age-old cycle customer of Shinde Cycle Store, in Nagpur. He travels to the city to buy wholesale goods from the local market, as he rents a cycle from the store.