Coming up: An eco-friendly film - First carbon-neutral film in India shot at Betioni in Golaghat district

Some of the cast members of the film Aisa Yeh Jahaan. Picture by Ritupallab Saikia

Golaghat, May 22: Betioni of Golaghat district has earned a slot in the history of eco-friendly filmmaking in the country.

The sleepy hamlet, nearly 15km from here, is one of the locations where India’s first carbon-neutral feature film, Aisa Yeh Jahaan, is being shot since May 17.

The film, produced by Maya Kholie under the banner of Kholie Enterprises, Arunachal Pradesh, was first shot at Umiam Lake in Meghalaya on May 14 and 15.

Shooting at Betioni will be over on Monday and in June the cast and crew will move to Mumbai, the final location.

On the carbon-neutral concept, Satish Sharma, the associate producer of the film, said, “We have tied up with an NGO, Centre for Environmental Research and Education, a pioneer in the field of carbon management. After the shooting is over, the NGO will conduct an audit based on certain parameters to measure the emissions associated with producing the film. Based on the audit, we will take steps to compensate for the adverse effects on the environment by planting trees and take other measures.”

“We will be removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as we have put in, making the film carbon-neutral,” Sharma added.

Greenhouse gas emissions from onsite fuel, vehicle and special effects fuel, shipping and air travel associated with a film’s production and onset generators, among others, harm the environment.

Some of the famous carbon-neutral titles are 24, the Emmy award-winning series from Imagine and Twentieth Century Fox Television, George Clooney’s Syriana, Day the Earth Stood Still and The Day After Tomorrow, to name a few.

Kholie had also made a documentary, Angel of the Aboriginals: Dr Verrier Elwin, in 2009.

Biswajeet Bora, the director of the film, who has worked with filmmaker Jahnu Barua, said, “It is a socio-environmental film, which tells the story of an urban family trapped in the concrete jungle of a metropolis and their struggle in dealing with the growing pressures of the lifestyle. It raises pertinent questions about life and survival and everything that lies in between.”

The cast of the film includes the lead pair of Palash Sen and Ira Dubey, apart from Yashpal Sharma, Tinnu Anand, Bishnu Kharghoria, Kymsleen Kholie, Prisha Dabas and Saurabh Pandey, among others.

The film will be endorsed by Shyam Benegal and Jahnu Barua and is scheduled for release in October.

“Ninety per cent of the dialogues will be in Hindi while the remainder is in Assamese with English subtitles,” the director from Betioni, said.

Bora’s first debut movie, Ejak Jonakir Jilmil, was released in 2007.