environmentalism

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.