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Nikita is making a film called Bombay Hotel - a hybrid documentary set in a small but chaotic neighbourhood in Ahmedabad. The story draws upon the experiences of a child who is coming of age here.
Rehan has been part of the process from its very conception. Informed consent with him, his parents and other participants is being followed towards decision-making at every stage.
Filmmaker’s bio
Nikita traveled to classrooms across the country producing videos for Teach For India, an NGO which works in government and low-income private schools. She graduated with a master's degree in education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. Her research is the starting point of Bombay Hotel and forms the blueprint for the film. Nikita is also the Executive Producer on Ready Steady, a fiction feature which gives authorship to 10 high school students from different socio-economic backgrounds in Delhi. The film advocates for the Right To Education and inclusion in schools. As an educator-filmmaker, she is driven by creating media which promotes understanding, empathy and change.
Rehan has been part of the process from its very conception. Informed consent with him, his parents and other participants is being followed towards decision-making at every stage.
Filmmaker’s bio
Nikita traveled to classrooms across the country producing videos for Teach For India, an NGO which works in government and low-income private schools. She graduated with a master's degree in education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. Her research is the starting point of Bombay Hotel and forms the blueprint for the film. Nikita is also the Executive Producer on Ready Steady, a fiction feature which gives authorship to 10 high school students from different socio-economic backgrounds in Delhi. The film advocates for the Right To Education and inclusion in schools. As an educator-filmmaker, she is driven by creating media which promotes understanding, empathy and change.
Why are we making this documentary?
Bombay Hotel is a majority Muslim locality in Ahmedabad where an estimated 25,000 households are deemed ‘illegal’ by municipal authorities. The first 40 families were rehabilitated here after the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Many followed in its wake. 20 years later, it remains a public and political blindspot.
With 400 tonnes of garbage coming in everyday, the landfill is growing bigger beside the basti. Fires break out frequently, filling the air with fumes and thick smoke from burning garbage. Chemicals from nearby factories accumulate forming toxic ponds and contaminating the groundwater. Despite these risks, there is no nearby hospital or health data for residents living here.
Since he was little, Rehan has wanted to solve the problem of garbage but it always seemed too big. At age 11, he wrote a heartfelt letter to Ahmmedabad’s municipal corporator about the conditions faced by children in his community. A year later, aged 12, he sent an email to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board about the threat to life near the dumpsite. Due to the unresponsiveness of adults in charge, Rehan has taken it upon himself to work for his community.
The seeds of this film come from my collaboration with Rehan, whose courage, clarity and conviction show us that children are citizens with present needs and not just leaders of the future. It is a story about the promises we hold ourselves to, the promises made by the state to its citizens, and eventually, the promise of a better tomorrow.
The film is not only about Rehan in Bombay Hotel but about many kids like Rehan, in many different contexts. It will resonate with the psychology of children world over, be it in Mumbai or Paris or Nairobi, who assert their agency when denied the will to power. It will reveal the ageless wisdom in each of these Rehans, if we could take them seriously by valuing them for who they are right now rather than adults-in-the-making.
There’s a boy standing at the base of a mountain. He’s all alone and the summit looks very far away. In the company of his friends, the mountain starts to look smaller. With community beside him, he believes he can climb it.
If more people had the opportunity to meet Rehan, they would not only believe that the mountain exists but also that it is movable.
What is its intended impact?
We see our film as a bridge connecting people around the world through a hyper-local story which is globally relevant. Larger themes like education, livelihood, development, politics, inequality and climate change are addressed through this specific, localized garbage mountain.
The film's audience includes educators, researchers, policymakers, government representatives, environmental activists, ethnographers, engineers and artists. But our story will speak to anyone who believes that building a society in which dialogue between institutions, children and adults can create solutions for its most pressing problems.
Targeted impact:
1. Creating accountability towards the 2020 deadline given to the State of Gujarat to clear the landfill
2. Putting pressure on decision-makers and government officials through campaigns and direct action
3. Sparking dialogue in civil society through screenings, debates, surveys, polls, print and digital media
Non-targeted pathway:
1. Distribution in festivals and release on OTT platforms for wider reach
2. Generating press and PR buzz towards impact outcomes
Outcomes:
1. Creating awareness of the legal status of the landfill and its effects on the residents of Bombay Hotel
2. Motivating viewers to challenge their own stereotypes by activating perspective seeking and empathy
3. Amplifying the voices of community leaders through access to information, resources, cultural spaces, and if needed, legal aid towards their demands
4. Helping all stakeholders be clear about the work needed towards a solution
We have spent the last 2 years building relationships with a network of NGOs in Ahmedabad. By leveraging people and organizations who are already committed to social and environmental causes, our film will create a proofpoint for the role storytelling can play in a social change ecosystem. We want to onboard an Impact Producer who can advise on the film so that a comprehensive strategy can be developed at the outset.
The film's audience includes educators, researchers, policymakers, government representatives, environmental activists, ethnographers, engineers and artists. But our story will speak to anyone who believes that building a society in which dialogue between institutions, children and adults can create solutions for its most pressing problems.
Targeted impact:
1. Creating accountability towards the 2020 deadline given to the State of Gujarat to clear the landfill
2. Putting pressure on decision-makers and government officials through campaigns and direct action
3. Sparking dialogue in civil society through screenings, debates, surveys, polls, print and digital media
Non-targeted pathway:
1. Distribution in festivals and release on OTT platforms for wider reach
2. Generating press and PR buzz towards impact outcomes
Outcomes:
1. Creating awareness of the legal status of the landfill and its effects on the residents of Bombay Hotel
2. Motivating viewers to challenge their own stereotypes by activating perspective seeking and empathy
3. Amplifying the voices of community leaders through access to information, resources, cultural spaces, and if needed, legal aid towards their demands
4. Helping all stakeholders be clear about the work needed towards a solution
We have spent the last 2 years building relationships with a network of NGOs in Ahmedabad. By leveraging people and organizations who are already committed to social and environmental causes, our film will create a proofpoint for the role storytelling can play in a social change ecosystem. We want to onboard an Impact Producer who can advise on the film so that a comprehensive strategy can be developed at the outset.
What do we need now to make this happen?
Completed: Story Research
Current Project Status: In Development
We are aiming to crowdfund Rs. 10,00,000/- by the end of September 2022.
Funds raised during this time will be used towards:
- Developing the screenplay and writer’s fees
- Hiring key crew members and creative fees eg. Creative Producer, Animators, Editor, Sound Designer, Colorist
- Creating pitching trailer for submitting to grants and labs
Completed: Story Research
Current Project Status: In Development
We are aiming to crowdfund Rs. 10,00,000/- by the end of September 2022.
Funds raised during this time will be used towards:
- Developing the screenplay and writer’s fees
- Hiring key crew members and creative fees eg. Creative Producer, Animators, Editor, Sound Designer, Colorist
- Creating pitching trailer for submitting to grants and labs
- Research trips and putting together visual material for further fundraising
- Equipment, travel, lodging and food for the crew when on research trips and trailer shoot
We believe that your contribution needs to be handled with care and transparency. We will share a cost report clearly stating our expenses. On request, we would be willing to share the bills and invoices.
In addition to this campaign, the project will be supported by funds from multiple sources, such as applications to private foundations and individual funders, independent filmmaking competitions and co-production markets. Owing to the timelines associated with these different partnerships, they are in various stages of completion.
We will share regular reminders, updates, announcements and material as we move towards production.
Our journey of making a film
- Equipment, travel, lodging and food for the crew when on research trips and trailer shoot
We believe that your contribution needs to be handled with care and transparency. We will share a cost report clearly stating our expenses. On request, we would be willing to share the bills and invoices.
In addition to this campaign, the project will be supported by funds from multiple sources, such as applications to private foundations and individual funders, independent filmmaking competitions and co-production markets. Owing to the timelines associated with these different partnerships, they are in various stages of completion.
We will share regular reminders, updates, announcements and material as we move towards production.
Our journey of making a film
I was introduced to Brighton Primary English School in January of 2016 as a part of my video work with Teach For India. The school itself was thriving. Its walls were painted with environmentally conscious graffiti. A large sign painted on the building read ‘Top 5 Winners of the Design For Change Challenge’.
Over the years, students have taken various initiatives to tackle the problem of pollution like selling cloth bags to replace plastic and performing street plays. One time all the teachers and students came together to clean up the road outside their school. The next day the street was filled with garbage again.
I returned to the same classroom in 2018 with the realization that they would not succeed without determined efforts from the outside. This is the first time I interviewed Rehan, a curious, conscientious and concerned 10 year old - things about him which have remained constant over the last 5 years.
Later that year, I was in Ahmedabad for a conference. When I visited I learned that Rehan had been interviewing his neighbours using a tablet given to him in school. He climbed the dumpyard and was held hostage by the garbage mafia who deleted all his footage. Rehan wanted the world to know what was going on in his community. During the course of our conversation he convinced me to help him make a documentary. This set off a long-standing promise between us.
Rehan and I were in touch over the coming months but life in his corner of the world stayed the same. In 2019 I was completing a Masters’ degree in education. My research was on how Social Studies can be taught outside of the curriculum in a real world context. This brought me back to Bombay Hotel.
I engaged with 15 children as co-researchers who have expert knowledge of the people and places that make up their community. Kids view the world from a unique vantage, dreaming up solutions to problems that adults can't. Using media tools with them confirmed what I knew as an educator but was yet to discover as a filmmaker - children can learn complex things when they are producers, not just recievers, of knowledge.
Rehan and I spent every day together working late into the evenings. Our energy levels match making us a great team. We’re both bold and love asking questions but Rehan is more level-headed. He believes making himself heard is enough to get the job done, without holding anger and resentment towards the people in power. The shift in our relationship during this time can best be described as becoming collaborators.
In 2020, Rehan and I continued engaging in small acts of co-creation throughout the pandemic. We started sending each other pictures from our day, which turned into a photo essay on food inequality. We recorded a radio show about life under the nation-wide lockdown and distributed rations towards pandemic relief in his community. As a result of online classes, Rehan became even more comfortable using technology. This is ideal for us to be working on developing this film together.
In 2021, I enrolled Rehan into one of the best schools in the country. He has become more academically motivated and is learning how to prioritize opportunities that are best suited to his goals. Witnessing this rocket-powered kid growing into a discerning teenager is one of my life’s greatest treasures.
A few months ago, Rehan and I finally met after more than 2 years of weekly calls. As anticipated he had become taller than me. What I didn’t expect was to be confronted with the fact that his biggest inspiration was no longer Malala. I winced when I found out that his role models are Elon Musk and Jeff Bezoz.
The pandemic took Rehan and me further and further away from our goal of making a film together. But during this time the goalpost itself changed completely. Bombay Hotel is a very different film than the one I would have made at any other point in our journey. I now feel nearer to my promise.
As our relationship changes, my relationship with the material of the film also changes, turning towards a more personal narrative. A quote from my favourite film Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater speaks to this approach - “If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone and sharing something.” It is in the attempt to close in on the space, distance and degrees of separation between us, where the heartbeat of our film lies.
Filmmaking, I’ve been warned, is a laborious and lonely process. The lulls and highs are a lot to grapple with as a first time director. In asking for your support at this stage, I'm also asking for your patience and trust. We are piecing together what may end up being a small film but is sure to be made with big heart.
In love and solidarity,
Nikita
