The film has won several
international awards and has been invited to many film festivals.
It is an independent self-financed film, made without any grant,
contribution or funding. I am now attempting to recover part of the
costs by selling VHS copies. I am likely to use the money for my next
film and to continue documenting the story of the 2 villages featured
in the film . Please let me know whether you would be interested in
buying one or more copies of the film [ Rs 1500 plus postage ( Rs 100
)or US $ 30 plus postage ( $5)]. For activists/ students, the copies
are available at a discount. Information about the film is enclosed
below. Please help by circulating it to those who may be interested.
Rakesh Sharma
Aftershocks -The Rough Guide to Democracy India 66 minutes
2002
Awards : Le Prix de la Presse politique award for the best film at
the 16th Fribourg International film festival in Switzerland (March
2002). Bronze for best documentary feature, Big Muddy film fest
(USA), April 2002, John Michaels memorial award, Big Muddy film fest
(USA).
Festivals: Indian Premiere at Mumbai International film festival on
Feb 9, 2002 by MIFF and Indian Documentary Producers' Association.
Other festivals include the 26th Hongkong International Film Festival
(April 2002), the Calcutta Festival of Social Cinema(Feb 2002).....

SYNOPSIS
On January 26, 2001, Kutch (Gujarat, India) was devastated by a
massive earthquake. Over 20,000 people died and tens of thousands of
homes were destroyed. Bhuj, Anjar, Rapar and Bhachau, the most
severely affected areas, received attention from many international
relief agencies, national and international media, even personal
visits from Prime Minister Vajpayee and Citizen Clinton.
This film is set in Julrai and Umarsar, two villages in Lakhpat, near
the India Pakistan border, close to the Gujarat coast, and too far
away from Bhuj to be in focus. Umarsar is an upper caste Durbar
village, while Julrai's entire population comprises low class
Rabbaris, semi-nomadic shepherds, who began to settle down into
permanent villages only in the last couple of hundred years. The two
villages have nothing in common except that both were almost totally
destroyed during the quake and both are sitting on top of lignite
reserves. The Government-controlled Gujarat Mineral Development
Corporation has a monopoly over any mining activity in the region.
GMDC is likely to be privatised completely over the next few years;
26% of its shares were sold to corporates, financial institutions and
investors in 1997-98.
This film traces the story of GMDC's attempts to acquire the two
villages. Eight weeks after the quake, on March 26, 2001, our camera
accidentally bumps into the GMDC acquisition survey team in Umarasar.
Over the next few months, the film moves in and out of Julrai,
Umarsar and the GMDC's existing lignite mines and probes the
processes of displacement and resettlement.
Did GMDC succeed in exploiting the earthquake as a God-sent
opportunity to hasten the acquisition? How did the obviously
vulnerable quake-affected people of Julrai and Umarsar deal with it?
What was the role of the state government machinery, entrusted with
the welfare of its calamity affected people? How have the existing
mines and the power plant affected the lives of the people living
nearby? Have the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislative taken
note of this human impact before they paved the way for the new mines
and the new power plant? The film is a hitchiker's journey through
the labyrinthine universe of Democracy, as it exists in its lowest
unit level - the Indian village.
This 68 minute film has been shot and edited entirely on Digital
Video -miniDV ( Sony TRV900 and MatroxRT2500-Adobe Premiere).
Languages spoken by the people include Kutchi, Gujarati, Hindi and
English. The film has been subtitled in English.