Updated On: 21 January, 2024 06:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Christalle Fernandes
Overflowing mounds of e-waste, contaminated water, polluted air, and degradation of creeks… the nine documentaries shortlisted for short film competition Nagari 2023 point to larger social issues across the country that deserve our attention

Gauraiya (Sparrow) by Jatin Parveen talks about the people living in the shadow of a landfill. Pic/Nitesh Sharma
In Ghazipur’s Mulla colony, there is a looming presence that cannot be forgotten. Just 100 m away from the locality is a 73-feet mound of trash, which emits noxious fumes that cloud life in this Uttar Pradesh district. Writer and filmmaker Jatin Parveen recalls passing by the landfill every day on his way to see his relative, Shilpi, who resides in the area. “You feel the omnipresence of that landfill all the time. Even inside the houses, with the AC on, the air is toxic.”
Parveen, who works in Mumbai but grew up in Ghaziabad, is earnest, almost insistent, on highlight the issues that the Ghazipur community faces due to the stench, filth, and the “waste mafia” controlling their lives. These issues are brought to the forefront in Gauraiya, a short film he created with cinematographer Nitesh Sharma and sound designer Partham Kar to depict life from the vantage point of the mountain of waste.