Kadvi Hawa's story comes from first-hand experience: Director Nila Madhab Panda

Director Nila Madhab Panda, who has explored several social issues in his films — right to education in I Am Kalam (2011), female foeticide in Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid (2012), safe sex in Babloo Happy Hai (2014), water scarcity in Kaun Kitney Paani Mein (2015) — has now dabbled in the subject of climate change in his latest film Kadvi Hawa.

The film starring Sanjai Mishra, Ranvir Shorey and Tillotime Shome, talks about the effect of climate change on the lives of people and their livelihood. 

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In an interview to Cinestaan.com, Panda, spoke about why he veers towards films dealing with social and environmental issues.

“These are not dramatic or over the top or mindless entertainment, but my films are also entertaining. My films are basically stories. All my films deal with human body ecosystem, but we are ignorant. I am not here to teach you. If you see, none of my films are preachy. I bring stories that you certain essence. I feel as an artiste, as a story teller that I take the responsibility to bring it out to people,” he said.

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“The whole story (of Kadvi Hawa) to me is a first-hand experience — what I have seen myself and what I have seen through my documentaries,” adds Panda, who hails from Odisha. The effects of climate change in Odisha is depicted in the film with Ranvir Shorey's character Gunu. He is a loan recovery who is also dealing with a personal loss caused by floods in his state.

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Panda, who has made several documentary films too, makes sure he delivers big messages through realistic character-based stories. He feels that climate change is generally restricted to either school text books or the environment day, but believes that there needs to be a larger conversation about the issue, and that films do play a key role in bringing essential conversations to the public. “To make you conscience about climate every day, you need a film like this to break your emotions and hit you hard to talk about what is happening to the world today," he said.

Kadvi Hawa released in theatres on 24 November. 

Watch the complete video interview here: