Shivraj Duggal, alongside his brother, is an independent filmmaker and has been producing, directing, filming, and editing short films and uploading them on his YouTube channel, DuggalBrothers, since January, 2017.
I’ve always been extremely keen to shoot the things around me with a camera. Never has anyone, or anything, been spared from my lens. With it, I feel within my creative spirit; free yet contained, explorative yet pragmatic. I am able to capture both imagination and reality, tell the story of both creativity and awareness. With my lens, I am fully and wholly within my creative right.
In my free time, I love capturing my journeys through this world. Even if it’s just a vacation, passing on my experience with new cultures and people is something I absolutely love. Having filmed two annual “summer travel” short films, I feel that I have accomplished this creative objective. I created an immersive 5 minute experience, having shot and edited every single piece of footage myself, I feel like I was able to truly showcase the different cultures from the various European countries in my travels. Being able to expose these cultures, sights, and beautiful landscapes from my own personalised lens only feels like a privilege. And I’m glad to be able to share my personal experiences with the world.
Not everything I choose to capture and share through my lens is fairy tales and travels. The harsh reality is that I live in the most polluted city in the world. The unbreathable climate of Delhi, India, is something that all the locals of the city, citizens of the nation, and people of the world need to be aware of. Change needs to be brought about and the air pollution quality in Delhi needs to be improved. For the most part, the city is in an uninhabitable condition, and this is what I wished to show with Delhi’s Silent Killer, a short film and commentary on the air pollution that was ravaging the commoners of the city post 2016 Diwali. Since then, the pollution has only increased every single year, with the PM 2.5 levels reaching over 600 in many areas of the city. The bursting of firecrackers as well as the untimely crop burning in nearby agricultural areas makes the national capital a toxic gas chamber. In my film, I expose these facts, as well as provide viable solutions. Upon viewing this film, My Right To Breathe, a Delhi based NGO, approached me to come onto various news channels on their behalf, such as NDTV and India Today, to talk about the harmful effects of firecrackers and why it needs to be banned. Since then, a ban has been implemented on firecrackers yet the problem of air pollution in Delhi is yet to be solved. I only intend to do my own part; raise awareness on the truth of my city and try whatever I can to bring a change, and that was my intention with this harsh, but truthful short film.
Work with Chintan - A Delhi based NGO - to bring awareness to the ragpickers and forgotten labourers of Delhi.
Through the course of this year, I have combined by filmmaking skills and my digital media social project Media Takeover to spread the message of Delhi-based NGO Chintan. Chintan reduces waste and consumption, manages solid and electronic waste and advocates around materials, waste and consumption. It uses waste as a tool to fight poverty, child labour gender based violence and exclusion and climate change, while creating green livelihoods. Chintan pushes back and combats unsustainable consumption.
This is the message that I have tried to pass on working with Chintan. Over the course of this year, I have gone out onto the streets of Delhi, interviewing “rag-pickers” - below minimum wage workers - in Delhi and asking them various questions about their lifestyles, their salaries, and the living conditions that they suffer. I have also showcased all of the facts regarding the suffering “waste-men” of Delhi and how Chintan helps in uplifting these unsung heroes and giving them true opportunities to shine in the working classes of today. I filmed and edited a short film, with the central focus of one “rag-picker” to office manager, over the course of a full year, while trying to showcase a broader message of the perils faced by these workers and the possible opportunities that can be offered to them.