After winning a fellowship with InfoChange India, Parasher Baruah has directed a documentary film about the rag pickers of Dharavi.
The film was selected to be screened at the Munich Documentary Film Festival in May 2009.
Filmed over a period of eight months in Dharavi, WASTE explores the importance of the rag pickers' role in managing the city's waste and the challenges that these people face every day. The film follows three adolescent rag pickers, Sameer, Santosh, and Salman, as they go about their daily lives and interviews other rag pickers and residents of Dharavi in the process.
WASTE leaves a powerful impact on its audience and prompts viewers to rethink the way they use and dispose of trash.
The film continues to be screened at various schools and events to bring attention to the living conditions of rag pickers and to help audiences gain perspective on how their patterns of consumption impact the environment