MOVING UPSTREAM: GANGA

About the film

The 'Moving Upstream: Ganga’ documentary was filmed over 6 months on a 3000km walk along River Ganga in India. This documentary explores the idea of walking, people’s responses to a walking traveller in this fast-paced era and an evolving relationship with the natural world. Aimed at an urban audience that is largely disconnected from the realities of rural India, the film provides an unfiltered view into the thoughts and lives of people living next to the river. The film amplifies voices and concerns of the riparian community - a severely underrepresented section of society in India. This documentary also successfully breaks out of the stereotypical mould of religion, religious centers and urban India into which the Ganga has been forcefully restricted through politics and popular media - much like the numerous dams on the river itself that hold back its true nature. A modern-day journey along an ancient river.

About the director

Shridhar is a graduate of M.Des (Film and Video Communication) at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad before which he pursued a B.F.A. (Visual Communication) course from College of Art, New Delhi. After finishing his master’s, he has been making independent films and freelancing throughout the country. He worked in Mumbai for a year, where he developed feature film stories and then briefly assisted Nandita Das, after which he shifted to the mountains in Himachal Pradesh and founded his studio by the name of Studio Buddhijeev.