Out of the 106 films shortlisted for screening at the environment and wildlife film festival— CMS Vatavaran 2009 — in New Delhi next month, 14, including a full-length film featuring actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Gulshan Grover, are from Maharashtra. One of the entries is from Pune.

Of the lot, 73 are national films and 33 international entries. Twenty-three countries and 20 states from India will participate in the festival to be held between October 27 and October 31. The film, Fable from the Himalayas, on global warming made by an independent filmmaker Nitin Das, a resident of Wanowarie in Pune, tells the tale of a young boy who is given the solution to global warming by a monk in the mountains.

The film was shot in icy Spiti Valley on the Himachal Pradesh-Tibet border and the entire cast was from Kaaza, a small town in Spiti Valley.

A feature film that gives the message to save trees and has actors like Mithun Chakraborty, Gulshan Grover and acclaimed child artiste Ashwin Chitale, has also been chosen for screening.

The film, Zor Lagaa Ke Haiya is directed by Girish Girija Joshi, who has assisted Raj Kumar Santoshi in some of his films. Joshi said, “Mithun plays the role of a person who has made a big tree his home, even as Gulshan Grover is a money-minded construction giant who, along with Mahesh Manjarekar, a contractor, wants to fell the tree. The films shows how a group of children overcome all obstacles to save the tree from being chopped down.” The film, completed in April this year, has been screened at various international festivals including in Mexico and Honolulu (Hawaii). Another film, Search of Prosperity made by Santosh Deodhar, who is a civil engineer, is another entry. The film, which deals with the issue of water scarcity, has now been selected for another film festival in Slovakia.

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