Natural Disasters in B-Town Films!

There are many instances where earthquakes have been shown in movies; be it in a dramatic way or in a comedy. In OMG! Oh My God, they show a small earthquake happening but the only damage that happened was one particular store being trashed completely. Another such scene is from the recent hit movie Kai Po Che!, where an earthquake happens that leads to several houses being damaged, and buildings shaking and almost breaking apart. The extent of the damage is such that land itself tears apart, leaving a hole in the middle. A final earthquake scene is from the movie Waqt from 1965, where a whole town crumbles due to an earthquake on one unfortunate night. In it, houses are destroyed and roads broken.

Floods are another natural disaster that have been shown time and again. The movie Tum Mile is one such example, where the backdrop of the movie is the Mumbai 25^th July floods. A couple lands in Mumbai and discovers that the whole city has been flooded because of excessive rain. The movie shows the never ending rain, the storm, water that reaches car tops, and thousands of cars stuck on different bridges whilst the whole of Mumbai is running from one end to the other to save themselves from the flood. This is a clear picture of what happened in Mumbai 6 years ago on the same date. Another impactful flood scene is from the movie Mother India, where a severe storm results in a flood that destroys houses in the village, ruins the harvest and several men, women and children die because of this. By using water in movies, filmmakers waste a lot of water. Water is one of the earth's most valuable resources, and conservation of water is necessary as water transportation and treatment requires large amounts of energy. Thus, the impact on the environment that arises from this quite detrimental. By wasting water you put wildlife that lives in rivers and wetlands in danger as the more water that is used, the less there is available in rivers, lakes and wetlands.

There are many films where fire is included; be it cars suddenly exploding or houses catching fire, fire has become an integral part of almost any film. One such scene is from the evergreen movie Mother India, where the main protagonist is running through stacks of hay that are on fire. Another big fire sequence happens in the film Om Shanti Om. The first fire sequence is a spoof of a real event during the shooting of Mother India, where Nargis is trapped in between the fire and Sunil Dutt saves her; likewise, in Om Shanti Om, they show a fire trapping the main protagonist and how the hero saves her. The second one is done by setting fire to a whole studio, a location that the flames burn down. The third and final fire is a reprise of the second, where the same studio catches fire and burns down for a second time. Fire can be deadly and can destroy homes, wildlife habitat, along with polluting the air with emissions that are not only harmful to human health, but also to our environment. Fire also releases carbon dioxide into the environment. As one of the major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is a key player in global warming and other destructive effects on the environment.


Author: Fatima W.
Editors: Shreya S. & Gunia M.
Graphics: Preet K.