The environment and wildlife international film festival called Vatavaran-2017 rolled into the city on Friday with students of Oxford Grammar School, Diamond Jubilee School and a few others joining a heritage walk along the Musi.
The film festival would end on January 25 with movies and documentaries to be screened at Ravindra Bharati. In its seventh edition, the touring film festival is being taken to various river front cities in India to bring about a change in perception, practice and policies on environmental issues.
Led by Veda Kumar of Forum for Better Hyderabad, the walk began at the historic City College and ended at Salar Jung Museum.
Identity
Interspersed with a walk on the river walkway framed by the grand domes of High Court and the foul smell of Musi, Mr. Kumar wove a yarn about how the city and the river were part and parcel of the identity.
“Most of the projects for saving the Musi are aimed at real estate. The only feasible thing could be to create ecological, heritage and metropolitan zones so that people and the river can co-exist,” said Mr. Kumar, showing various maps and projects drawn up for the river over the years.
Poetry reading session
“The film festival is being organised under the aegis of Children’s Film Society, Telangana and we are organising the films and cultural events that are part of the festival. Tomorrow, under the tamarind tree at OGH, we are going to have poetry reading session and speeches about the role of Musi in the life of the city,” said K. Prabhakar of CFS.