Considering the priority of life, the environment has been kept at the top level. 'Earth First' was not said for nothing. If forests, trees, mountains are protected then the sources of air, water and energy will also be protected. This concern is at the center of the Aravali dispute and this topic has also been shown prominently in many films. This issue was also made the basis of the story in Rishabh Shetty's much talked about film Kantara, the second part of which came out with the name Kantara Chapter One and again became a blockbuster at the box office. Kantara Chapter One is a bumper grossing film of 2025. stalwart Before this, this film remained at the number one position for a long time. Not only is Rishabh Shetty's strong acting behind the success of Kantara, the plot of the story is equally important, in which the importance of nature and environment was underlined.
In both the parts of Kantara, the audience saw the forest on screen for the first time in such a real and grandeur. The depiction of the interior of the forest was supposed to establish its dignity. The forest in Kantara was not just a bunch of trees, it would not be appropriate to call it just a location, but it also reflected the glory of trees. And it contained reality in its hallmark. Rishabh Shetty not only saw the beauty in nature but also discovered the abode of divinity in it. The film says- Gods live on trees. Here, each tree in the forest is like a character, whose guardian is God.
Kantara was shot in the dense and mysterious forests of Western Karnataka. According to legends, gods reside in the forest here and this is part of a long heritage. Folktale also says that the gods protect the forest here. Due to the influence of the deity, 'Devra Kaadu' i.e. the sacred grove survives here. Respecting nature is equivalent to worshiping God. But with the development of human civilization and increasing needs, wherever tensions are seen between development officials, environmentalists and local residents, Kantara is also filled with such sequences. Like the promiscuity of nature, Rishabh Shetty's character in the film is also equally promiscuous.
The struggle between local citizens and development officials has been shown on a large scale in Kantara. Local citizens allege that outsiders are eyeing the natural resources and mineral wealth here, while the development officials want to evict the local people from there by making the forest a protected area. Local people say that they and their ancestors have been living here for hundreds of years, the trees are revered like gods for them, but now they want to remove the administration and extract the precious minerals from here. If you notice, the same allegations are being made at the root of the Aravali dispute.
However, such concern for nature is not limited to Kantara only. Many films promoting the campaign to save the environment have been made across the world including India and have made headlines at the international level. James Cameron's world-famous Avatar series also has a conflict between nature versus corporate and nature versus technology. Similarly, remember 'Day After Tomorrow' directed by Roland Emmerich. In this, the climate crisis was seriously pointed out. Based on the principle of 'Earth First', it was warned in the film that if we do not get serious on climate change, then in just a hundred years a terrible destruction can occur on the earth.
Talking about some other films made in India, Neil Madhav Panda's film 'Kadvi Hawa', released in the year 2017, cannot be forgotten. In that film starring Sanjay Mishra and Ranveer Shorey, on one hand the focus was on the geographical landscape of Bundelkhand and on the other hand on the causes of cyclone-like devastation in the coastal region of Odisha. In this film, there was a very emotional poem by Gulzar dedicated to the environment. Some of his lines are as follows-
Weather seems to be homeless / Weather has started becoming homeless
Forest, trees, mountains, ocean / humans are cutting everything
Peeling is dividing the skin of the ground / piece by piece.
The seasons have fallen from the sky / everything is becoming barren
Seasons are starting to become homeless
Actually, Bitter Wind was the story of climate and farmers. It was told in the film that due to indiscriminate cutting of trees, the weather of many areas of the country has started getting affected, at some places there is drought, at some places there are floods, at some places there are dust storms and at some places there is poisonous pollution of industrial smoke. Due to the side effects, some people are dying of hunger and some due to the burden of debt. Life is in danger due to bad weather. The effect of this dangerous bitter wind is not limited to the plains, but it is wreaking havoc in the sea coasts too, sometimes in the form of storms and sometimes heavy rains.
Apart from this, ,Jal, focusing on the water crisis in Kutch, ,Sherni, starring Vidya Balan focusing on wildlife conservation or ,The Elephant Whispers, etc. are highly worth considering. In the year 2018, the natural disaster of the mountainous region was depicted in Sushant Singh Rajput and Soha Ali Khan,s film ,Kedarnath,. In fact, these films advocate the welfare of the entire mankind in the name of conservation of forests, trees, mountains, air, water and energy. Any development is for the convenience of humans but destruction of nature also causes loss to mankind. So what is the middle path? ,
