Submerged

About the Film

Kotmir, a village in the Dharaji Panchayat, was under the submergence area of the Omkareswar Dam built in the Narmada River. But many of the people from Kotmir had refused to leave the village due to unsettled compensation packages and they lived a subsistence life as migrant labourers in the cities. When they were forced to return home during the country wide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these migrant labourers faced a unique situation. They too had no work but the home-returned villagers also were left without any village body to address their issue as Dharaji Panchayat was dissolved as the villages were officially ‘under the submergence area’ They could not even avail the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a social scheme which helped secure the lost income of millions of home-returned migrant workers at that time. The film follows their saga and the struggle to avail the benefits of the MGNREGA.

About the Director

Iqbal Hussain hails from Bagli, a small town in Madhya Pradesh. He learned filmmaking and media dissemination at SPS Community Media, where he has been working since 2011, using media content to drive change in remote tribal villages. In addition to regular screenings across 600 villages, his films have been showcased in numerous film festivals and have received awards, including the Special Jury Mention at CMS Vatavaran, New Delhi, and the Best Film Award at the Green Hero competition in Mumbai.