Another Movie with Shekhar Kapur’s Paani Plot

Many years ago director Dev Benegal made Split Wide Open with Rahul Bose, a film about water scarcity in Mumbai. When Shekhar Kapur announced Paani for the first time 10 years ago, Dev Benegal cried foul regarding his film's subject being suspiciously similar to what Shekhar proposed. Now when Shekhar Kapur has begun prepping for Paani with Sushant Singh Rajput, another filmmaker has crept up from behind with a film that sounds like a precursor to Paani.

National award winning director Nila Madhab Panda's Kaun Kitne Paani Mein, funded by One Drop, a Canadian no-profit organization devoted to providing drinking water the world over, seems to share uncanny resemblances to Shekhar's Paani. While Kaun Kitne Paani Mein is set in two parts of a village in Odissa named Upri and Bairi where water is a constant source of friction, Shekhar Kapur's Paani will unfold in a futuristic city divided into two the Upper Level and Lower Level warring over water.

Nila Madab Panda plays down the similarities. Says the director, "I heard Shekhar Kapur's Paani is an urban film on water scarcity and also a scientific and futuristic film, whereas mine is a rural film set in present times on water scarcity...and even if there are similarities I say, the more the better. Water scarcity is growing epidemic across the world. We need many more films on the theme." Madhab's film features Kunal Kapoor in the lead whereas Shekhar's film has Sushant Singh Rajput. Both the actors have worked their butts off to look authentic in their parts.

-Siva Kumar