film

A film on the four and a half years old anti-coca cola struggle in Plachimada

India/2006/DV/60 Mins Direction: P Baburaj & C Saratchandran

If `Bitter Drink’ announced the struggle to preserve ground water, `1000 Days and A Dream’ picks the social conscience. Protestors go on record to castigate political parties, media and society at large -THE HINDU November 03 2006 I feel like I knew Mayilamma. Ever since I saw `1000 Days and A Dream’, a film in which she is one of the main protagonists. - A tribute to Mayilamma in How the Other Half Lives

The Plachimada struggle is more than four years old. Perhaps, no other agitation in recent times in Kerala has attracted national and global attention all this one has. What initially began as a struggle for survival of a few thousand tribal villagers in central Kerala, has grown into a people’s movement against the most powerful corporate giant in the world, the Coca Cola. An agitation against Coca Cola the flag bearers of American nationalism has become a movement against U S imperialism and the policies pushed by the State and Central Governments in India.

The film captures the spirit of the anti coca cola struggle, trace the history of the struggle and discuss the several issues raised by the struggle. It also documents the poignant moments of the struggle and share the dreams and sorrows of some of the active participants of the struggle.

1958: The Government of Kerala, persuades the Birlas to open a factory in Mavoor, North Kerala.

The GRASIM rayon pulp factory is open for the last 38 years. Thousands of workers earn their living trading future lives for the present. The fumes wing their way to the neighborhood spreading disease and death. Effluents gurgle into the Chaliyar River poisoning everything on its way to the sea.

At a time when environmental activism was unheard of, a man leads his people to save their river and their lives from the killer factory.

The Bitter Drink is the second film in a series on environmental struggles in Kerala produced by Third Eye Communications.

The People of Plachimada, a sleepy hamlet in Kerala southern India, were excited when they came to know that the Global Giant Coca Cola is setting up a bottling plant in their village. The year was 2000.

When you travel along a highway, you tend to notice the well maintained asphalt, the maniquered lawns, the big trees, fields stretching up to the horizon, carpet of blossoms.

But on a closer look and if you are not in a hurry, you will notice that your scenery is also dotted with tiny way side flowers. They are as beautiful, perhaps more important than the dominating landscapes. Kanavu, the alternate school tucked away in the hills of Wynad forest, is one of them.

The film, ‘Only An Axe Away’, narrates the history of the unique campaign to save the Silent Valley from destructive development. Silent Valley was declared a National Park 20 years ago in 1984. But the threat to Silent Valley does not cease to exist!

The Kerala State Electricity Board plans to build a dam on the fringes of the Silent Valley National Park at Pathrakadavu across River Kunthi. Nature lovers are concerned that the proposed dam will harm the pristine Ever Green Forests in the Valley.