By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter


The modern generation must learn to live in harmony with nature to meet the environmental challenges that the world faces today, an Indian environmentalist and filmmaker said.
P Balan, the 2004 winner of the prestigious Green Oscar Award for best director from the Wild Screen Panda UK for his film The 18th Elephant- 3 Monologues, is in Doha for raising awareness on preserving nature.
During his stay in Qatar, Balan will be screening his documentary for schoolchildren and interact with local community to spread the need for leading an eco-friendly life.
He screened his 63-minute film to the students of a school and had an interaction with the students of another school yesterday. Balan is one of the two recipients of Green Oscar from India.
Speaking to Gulf Times, Balan said: “The documentary is a depiction of modern man’s mercenary attitudes towards nature and his self-centric conception of development which has resulted in death and caused havoc on the life and habitat of other species. The sad plight of the elephant, in both its wild and domesticated states, is used as a powerful example to bring home this point in the film.”
Besides the Green Oscar, the documentary has won numerous recognitions such as The Ram Bahadur Prize for the Best Documentary at the Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Three Rajat Kamals (Indian national film awards) in non-feature section, 2004 for Best Environmental Film, Best Cinematography and  Best Narration, Kerala State Award for the Best Documentary in 2003 among others.
The documentary was shot over six years in 48 different locations covering 36 real life incidents. In an innovative break from the usual documentary style, three elephants ‘talk’ about their condition in monologue form while some of the extinct species ‘present’ the film as a warning to man to mend his ways.
Divakaran Illyathu, the producer of the documentary, is also accompanying Balan during his visit.
Balan said that any development that takes place should be in tandem with nature. “If nature is ignored, man will have to pay its price. Many of the ruthless actions of human beings in the past are chasing them back and creating problems all across the world. This situation is not pertaining to one particular region or a country but a global reality.”
Balan who worked as a programme executive at All India Radio, Chitradurga, said that the movie has been screened in a large number of countries.
He said: “We have taken this movie to more than 30 countries for screening. It has also been screened in different universities and colleges in a number of other countries. Even though the movie was shot more than 10 years ago, the theme is very relevant even today as people connect it with their everyday activities.”
Balan has also directed two more documentaries. A film, Aanpoovu, tries to subtly unravel how deeply gender colours the already complex relationship between an individual and society.
He is  one of the seven filmmakers selected from India for the award of  the British High Commission’s UK Environmental Film Fellowships in 2006 for a 12 minutes documentary film  Silenced Witness.
Balan at present runs an organisation named Anmpu to promote the social and environmental activities of like minded people.