This film maker planted 500 saplings to ensure first carbon neutral Indian film

The News Minute | March 30, 2015 | 02:39 pm ISTFilm maker Biswajeet Bora’s upcoming Hindi film “Aisa Yeh Jahaan” is being touted as the first carbon neutral film in the history of Indian cinema.Carbon neutrality means the activities taken by individuals or organisations to remove or compensate for the carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere. In doing so, they aim at achieving a zero carbon footprint. One of the most common methods to achieve carbon neutrality is through afforestation projects, which is what the makers of “Aisa Yeh Jahan” have been doing.“While shooting, we pollute the environment in several ways including the consumption of electricity and fuel. We need to compensate for the pollution we cause,” director Biswajeet Bora tells The News Minute.Biswajeet BoraThe film, which has been described as a socio–environmental feature, revolves around an urban family “trapped in the concrete jungles of a metropolis.”The film makers got in touch with Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CERE), a not-for-profit organisation which works towards promoting environmental sustainability, to help them monitor and evaluate their carbon emissions during the making of the movie. “As per the audit by CERE, we will need to plant around 500 saplings,” says Bora.The saplings will be planted in Mumbai, Assam and Meghalaya where the film has been shot.“With the assistance of Jeevandeep, we planted 215 saplings at one location in Mumbai. We made a MoU with the villagers there. They will look after them and won’t cut it for 15 years,” Bora says, adding that overall 350 saplings have been planted in the city.Though some saplings have also been planted in the north-east, the team is waiting for the right climate in the region to implement the initiative in full throttle. “The climate there is too dry at present. We are waiting for April to go ahead with the project,” says the film maker who also hails from Assam. For Bora, “Aisa Yeh Jahan” is more than just another film. “As a film maker, I not only wanted to do something in my film, but also give back to the environment,” he says.Some of the other carbon neutral films to have been made across the world include the George Clooney starrer Syriana, Sweet Land, The Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth.Bora, who shifted base to Mumbai in 2002, earlier assisted multiple-award winning film maker Jahnu Barua and some of his other directions include “A thousand Fireflies Sparkle” and the documentary “Angel of the Aboriginals.”“Aisa Yeh Jahan” stars Euphoria’s Palash Sen, Ira Dubey, Kymsleen Kholie, Yashpal Sharma, Tinnu Anand, Saurabh Pandey and Prisha Dabbas.The film has been written and directed by Biswajeet Bora and produced by Maya Kholie under Kholie Entertainment.(All images source: Aisa Yeh Jahaan/Facebook)TweetFollow @thenewsminute