Aanda Story

Country: Bangladesh

Logline

Babul is witnessing a dying river where he collects fish eggs. Both the man & the river are losing their roots due to man-made development & climate change.

Synopsis

The word “Aanda” has a philosophical meaning in our language, it means empty and, in another sense, it means a starting point too. Locally, this “Aanda” means an egg, and in this story, I will carry you to a river which is a rare natural breeding ground for fish eggs.

Our main protagonist is the river named Halda, situated in South-eastern Bangladesh and it is one of a kind in the whole world for the natural breeding ground of pure Indian carp.

And another protagonist is Babul, whose life has a deep link with the river as he worked as an egg collector for years. Halda River plays a significant role in Babul’s life because his bread & butter comes from the seasonal egg collections. But in recent years, Babul and other egg collectors cannot collect the number of eggs as they did earlier. In 2021, they got only 8000 kg of fish eggs whereas, in 2012, they collected 21000 kg. From earlier records, in 1945 egg collection was 1.36 lakhs kg. Such disparity in the Halda River has never been seen earlier.

This natural fish habitat is under threat of destruction because of its different types of anthropogenic hazards including indiscriminate catching and killing of the mother fishes by using illegal gill nets. The engine-operated water vehicles, cutting of the river’s serpentine bends and oxbow lakes, disposal of industrial effluents and sewage contamination, unplanned construction of a good number of sluice gates and rubber dams for irrigation purposes, massive quarry of sands from river bed illegally by a section of unscrupulous traders, use of excessive toxic insecticides on both sides of river banks, tobacco farming in the upstream area of the river, etc. are mainly the reasons for such conditions. But in recent years, researchers found that the increase of salty waters due to climate change has a big impact on fish egg production.

Babul lives in his ancestral house, which exactly resides on the river bank of Halda. One of the main reasons for Halda's destruction, the unplanned construction of dams for reserving water upstream is now a threat to the river. 

In this story, the destruction of the river’s natural habitat is also destroying Babul's ancestral house, he is noticed evicted from his house and land.

Will Babul be evicted from his ancestral house? will the river fight back to keep her natural habitats for fish egg production?

Director’s Statement

I born & brought up in the river bank of Halda river, from childhood it gives me a great pleasure when I see the rivers tides. The tidal effect of this river is very charming because the pace of the tides and fares is visible. I used to watch a lot of fresh water Dolphins lifting from the water when I was used to farm in my land in the river bank. But my land no more because it disappeared in the river. This river has a very big contribution in the national economy of our country but now it is destroying due to various reasons including climate change factor. I personally want to investigate the reasons and I fear in near future Halda will lose its natural characteristics. Through this film, I want show the world about this phenomenon and create impact to the policy makers, local peoples to inspire them which can create initiatives to save Halda.

Budget

155000 USD

Contact Information

Email: mastulproductions@gmail.com