Droughtlands

Maharashtra, India
Edinburgh, UK
Marathi, English
The Directors write: The Sugarcane Industry in Maharashtra, India is a highly lucrative and profitable business. However, a large portion of this business is built upon the labour of migrants who work under highly exploitative conditions. Between the droughts that force them to migrate in search of employment and survival, and the harsh working conditions at the plantations, sugarcane cutters have found themselves in a self consuming spiral that has lasted generations. Facing neglect from the Government and the factory owners, these labourers are left to their own devices in order to survive on a day to day basis. Through this film, we aim to capture the lived experiences of the sugarcane labourers while at home during the monsoons, the only time of year they’re able to cultivate the lands they own, through conversations. At the same time, we wanted to try to understand how this cycle perpetuates through the system in place.