Eminent film personalities Shekhar Kapur and Kabir Bedi inaugurated the Water Festival BLUe at the Convention Centre, KIIT on the occasion of World Water Day. The festival was organised to remind the inhabitants of the Earth of their responsibilities to protect, save and conserve the precious natural resource Water.
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, whose upcoming film ‘Paani’ will convey the message about the importance of the water, made an interesting connection between water and art. He said that water was just like an art, which represents flow. Talking about the spirituality that earlier characterized water, he asked the provocative question, what happened now? Why did we stop worshipping water, he asked. The answer, in his opinion was the arrogance of the human race, and he emphasized that. He lamented that the human race had the ability to control the ecosystem but did not conserve it. It was the carelessness of people and not just the increasing population which was the reason, he said. His advice for people was to shun their arrogance.
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Talking about water, actor Kabir Bedi said that though it was not the entire human race, a large group of people were indifferent to the issue and polluted water. They need to be made accountable, he said. “It is our lives and our children’s lives which are stake therefore we should make no haste in dealing with the issue”.
Both inaugurated the Art Exhibition, a special show on the occasion. It was a significant event as for the first time 22 eminent contemporary Indian visual artists from across the country have engaged seriously with socio-political issues linked to water, its relevance and risks associated. The artists of national eminence participating the show include Padmashri Dr. Thota Tharrani, Atul Bhalla, Mr. JMS Mani, Dr. S Jayaraj, Dr. Dinanath Pathy, Mr. Ramahari Jena. Adwaita Gadadanayak, Atul Bhalla, Sudhanshu Sutar, Pratul Dash, Birendra Pani, Shiba Sahu, Ramakanta Samantaray and Veejayant Dash.
The Exhibition will be opened to the public from 22nd to 28th March from 11 am to 7 pm at the Special Art Gallery next to the Convention Centre, KIIT.
The water festival was jointly organised by ONE DROP, Bakul Foundation, Arghyam, KISS, Health of the Urban Poor (HUP), Humara Bachpan, Pure Water Project, Practical Action and the Times of India on Friday.