Lakshmanrekha
Nandan Saxena, Kavita Bahl | India | 59 mins | 2019
LANGUAGE: Hindi with English subtitles
With climate change knocking at our doors, we seek people who can change the script.
A school dropout in Lapodia - a nondescript Rajasthan village - Laxman Singh seems an unlikely hero. Inspired by Manoj Kumar in 'Roti, Kapda aur Makaan', Laxman quit school to study why farmers migrated as cheap labour – forsaking their parched fields.
He saw what was always in plain sight: Water – or the lack of it. With five villagers, he set out to repair the village pond. Word spread like the desert wind. Soon, hundreds of villagers joined hands.
Ponds, wells, a new canal and a checkerboard of shallow ditches to slow the rainwater drain-off... In a few years, Lapodia wore many shades of green.
This film was an official selection for ALT EFF 2021.