Nagari Short Films - Who is the city for?

As cities grow, mutate, and transform, they reveal complex relationships between space, people, and power. This selection of Nagari short films navigates diverse geographies, communities, and explores identity, belonging, and survival in our urban cities.

01 While Walking through the City

By Amartya Ray 

Through Taufique and his colleagues, who walk every day to sell their wares in chawls and societies of suburban Mumbai, the film expands into a reflection upon those who are forced to walk for their livelihoods and an increasingly industrial metropolis that often makes them invisible through its structures and designs.

02 Sundari

By Sudarshan Sawant & Dhanesh Gopal

The story of the ferryboat Sundari reveals the fading connections between Mumbai's people, water, and history, as modern bridges transform the city

03 Fish Out of Water

By Viraj Kallola, Debadrita Gupta and Abhro Chowdhury

Shot across three Koliwadas, the urban fishing villages in which the Koli’s reside, as they navigate through their daily lives, from the fishing at sea in the morning, to the fish auctions at the end of each day and the time in between where life has other things in store for them.

04 Podampeta is Drowning Anyway

By Paribartana Mohanty and Kush Badhwar

Podampeta and many other Nolia fishing villages in the Ganjam district of Odisha are abandoned due to land erosion resulting from rising sea levels. 

05 Samayada Harivu

By Shruti Parthasarathy, Vikash Tiwari and Abhishek Patil

"Samayada Harivu (Flow of Time)" delves into the lived experiences of Noor Mary and Prasad, inhabitants residing on opposite sides of the Historic Begur Lake. 

06 Remember Xilxaku

By Maharshi Kashyap, Susmita Talukdar, Zeba Zoariah Ahsan, Biswajit Das, Dhruba Hazarika & Koushik Tamilmaran

Silsako is a wetland on the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam, that has been dwindling in size because of haphazard development activities over the past few decades. The film is an attempt to revisit a space that will determine the city’s future.

07 Pipe Dream

By Suraj Katra, Jai Mati, Prachi Adesara & Sitaram Shelar 

Pipe Dream is a film about Jai Mati, a resident of an informal settlement in Mumbai, and his work navigating the complex process of applying for a water connection with the city authority.

08 Chaviwallahs of Mumbai

By Akanksha Gupta and Gopal MS

Through the lived experiences, the film illustrates that the flow of water in the city is intrinsically dependent on the relationship shared between residents, engineers and politicians as much as the complex network of pipes that bind them.