Your thoughts on a film that is more relevant today than it was on release?
It’s incredible to remember that today marks the tenth anniversary of Kaun Kitney Paani Mein. The film was set in my part of the world—Western Odisha, a region that has endured decades of man-made drought. And today is especially meaningful because it coincides with “Nua Khai”, the festival where farmers celebrate the first harvest and the arrival of new food.
Is the water famine a looming reality then as it is now?
The film was one of the rare attempts in mainstream Bollywood to address the real issue of drought through satire, song, and dance. With actors like Radhika Apte, Kunal Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, and Saurabh Shukla, we tried to tell a story that was ahead of its time. Although Western Odisha was green by then, I shot the film in a water-scarce region along the Haryana border to stay true to the mood. Stories travel faster than ever now.
And now?
It’s hard to believe that just ten years later, I return to the global stage with a new film—an India-Sri Lanka-France co-production directed by Vimukthi Jayasundara, selected in the inaugural competition section at Busan this year. Out of only fourteen films competing, it is the only Indian-produced entry. From famine to a futuristic apocalypse, the new film imagines a sci-fi world where humanity now grapples with existential questions. Just ten years ago, I was speaking about water crises. Today, after a global pandemic, the world—and our stories—have changed forever.
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