By Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

KAAL

Whole of the world celebrated the environment day, and celebrities, especially from the film fraternity, of their own might chipped forward together and pledged for the cause of the environment. But has their been interference of the same or a marginally less magnitude been made by the Hindi film industry?

If the history of the film making for the last ten years is taken into account, it would be found that none of the films have come up with any issue that has got any thing to do with the environment, but for a saving grace in the form of KAAL where an element of mystique was added to the force of the nature instead of trying to address it from the perspective of conservation.

Contrast this with the films being made around the world. Hollywood has been making one film or the other on a continuous basis for the last ten years, noticeable being, TWISTER, VOLCANO, DINOSAUR series etc., which have come to emphasize the point that the havoc being played on the nature would come back to haunt in the most dreadful manifestation. A conservation film about a Panda has been made in China as well, but as a country inspite of having so many hotspots related to environment we have not been able to bring them into relief at least in the modern context. In the past there were sensitive filmmakers, who cam out with films like MAA, HAATHI MERE SAATHI etc., have been made and they have been able to bring the issue of conservation into agenda. The tiger, which is facing extinction in the country, is yet to get the endorsement of a celebrity film star that could help him in conservation.

In Hollywood, famous stars like George Clooney are leading by example by using hybrid cars, instead of fuel guzzlers, while the fraternity in India is yet to turn a green leave and come up with an endorsement of any kind to promote any hybrid automobile. On the contrary there still is a craving for Hummer brand of cars, which has been sort of thrown away by USA, the country where it is manufactured, as being monster of a fuel guzzler. An example crying urgent attention would be that of REVA car, which is battery driven and for the want of a celebrity endorsement could have caught the imagination of the country, inspite of the fact that it is selling like hot cake in Europe and other countries. For the cause of the environment at least some celebrity ought to endorse it and that too without charging an amount for it.

Becoming green world over after all is becoming the new elixir, a new sexual identity. Environment was given due weightage in the earlier age, and there have been beautiful films made addressing the cause of the environment. Among the famous can be included, PAAR, CHELUVI (directed by Girish Karnad), MEGHA DHAKA TAARA etc. ENNA was one film where environment played a big role in development of narrative of the film.

Amitabh Bachchan has entered into a global contract at the international level with Global-Cool, a UK based environment group to promote the cause of the environment at the international level. He is also going to launch the IIFA Bond for Global Cool, at the IIFA Awards to take place in Yorkshire in June. It is laudable that AB is becoming a part of international campaign to address the issues pertaining to environment, but it is hoped that some of the effort would also get directed towards issues of the country as well. After all, India is one of the countries, which could be at the receiving end of the environmental havoc, and as such the sooner the awareness about environment is created through movie stars the better it should be. And it ought to come in the form of a charity.