Unmasking Air Pollution in Indian Cinema: A Cultural Oversight

While global audiences are increasingly aware of climate issues through cinema, India's struggle with toxic air often goes unnoticed in popular culture, prompting calls for more impactful storytelling around this public health crisis.

In the 2016 Bollywood film Pink, a pivotal scene features Amitabh Bachchan’s character stepping out into Delhi’s smog-laden streets while wearing a mask. This brief moment is one of the few instances where mainstream Indian cinema has acknowledged the severe air pollution that plagues many Indian cities each year. Delhi's toxic air, especially during winter, consistently makes headlines and ignites public discourse, yet it contrasts sharply with the cinematic portrayals of other natural disasters in the country, such as floods that have inspired various films.

Siddharth Singh, the author of "The Great Smog of India," expresses disappointment that air pollution has not found its way into mainstream narratives within Indian literature and cinema. He highlights that much of the discourse surrounding pollution exists primarily in academic or scientific spaces, where terminology like PM2.5 or NOx lacks relatability for the general populace. Notably, famed author Amitav Ghosh noted in his 2016 book "The Great Derangement" that contemporary fiction largely overlooks climate change narratives, leading to a dangerous normalization of these urgent issues.

While air pollution doesn’t provide the visual drama often required in films, it is addressed in documentaries like "All That Breathes," by Shaunak Sen, which examines the connection between human life and the environment through the plight of two brothers treating injured black kites in smog-filled Delhi. Sen aims to capture how these environmental crises permeate personal lives, illustrating the interconnection between climate change and human behavior.

Filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda, active in environmental storytelling since 2005, highlights the struggle to convey serious themes in an entertaining manner—illustrated in his film "Megha's Divorce," which addresses pollution through a divorce case in the polluted capital. Panda reflects on the stark differences in nature he experienced growing up, emphasizing that while storytelling is crucial, it must also entertain to resonate with audiences.

The challenge of humanizing the air pollution crisis remains. Singh shares that describing the statistics on pollution-related deaths is often void of the personal stories that bring these numbers to life. While regional literature has explored environmental themes, contemporary English language narratives struggle with the privilege of their creators, disconnected from the realities faced by those living beside polluted rivers or within smog-filled cities.

Interestingly, the most potent discourse on air pollution may now reside within social media, where memes and images effectively highlight its severity. Singh believes that these informal channels could potentially evoke responses from those in power who can instigate change.

As India's air pollution crisis continues to escalate, creative expressions through various mediums could play a vital role in breaking the silence that surrounds this pressing issue, making the invisible—visible.