Van Versus Vikas, a documentary short film was screened at the Mumbai press club on Thursday.  Literally meaning “Forest Versus Progress”, the film interrogates the veracity of claims of “progress”, which has left millions of adivasi communities behind and created an ecological crisis.

Directed and produced by Rucha Chitnis, an independent filmmaker and writer, this place-based documentary short centres two protagonists: Mumbai's beloved and beleaguered Aarey Forest and the Bhoir family, whose adivasi ancestors have lived in the jungle for generations.