Throwback Thursday! Balachander’s powerful ‘Thanneer Thanneer’ about water politics

The water scarcity problem is a chronic one for Tamil Nadu and the farmers eventually have to die everytime a major draught hits them while the national at large hardly take notice of the fact where their food comes from.  In Tamil cinema the master filmmaker K.Balachander dealt with the subject in his ‘Thanneer Thanneer’ that took an indepth look at not only the water problem but the politics behind it.

‘Thanneer Thanneer’ is about how the politicians and the  bureaucracy fail people in providing water to serve their own self interests.  When the people of a village try to build a canal by themselves the red tape and the government departments dont allow them citing laws.  Some are branded naxalites and others are killed but the water never arrives and the final scene of heroine Saritha looking towards a clear sky in hope of water is KBs message about the never ending nature of the problem.

‘Thanneer Thanneer’ was originally staged as a play by Komal Swaminathan which was adapted to the screen in 1981 and was received with huge critical acclaim.  The film stars Saritha, Radharavi, Komal Swaminathan and Vaathiyaar Raman.  International audiences at film festivals were swayed by the powerful depiction of a problem that has universal appeal.