In a proud moment for India, a documentary on a Mumbai conservancy worker’s journey during the Covid-19 pandemic — titled ‘Clean Up’ — has won at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Awards in the United States.
The documentary highlights the challenging journey of conservancy workers during the pandemic and how these frontline workers picked up and managed the constantly rising quantities of hospital waste.
The documentary features Avinash Pillai, a contract labourer from Worli, who along with other workers in the city battled the tough lockdown. Pillai was one of the first frontline workers on duty immediately after the lockdown was announced in India.
Mumbai generated thousands of tonnes of waste from each hospital during the difficult phase — including large quantities of disposable curtains, bedsheets, gloves, gowns, medicines, face masks and more. ‘Clean Up’ follows Pillai, who picked up these waste bags every day, revealing how his journey was part of a larger global problem.
“We remember many frontline workers but very few people think of the conservancy workers who also played such a crucial role during the time. They dealt with bags that were completely infected with the virus and each hospital generated over 10,000 waste bags in a day. They had to be picked up and disposed of to make space for thousands more to follow in the coming days, months and a year. I felt it was an important story to tell,” said Vaishnavi Vasudevan, director and producer of the award-winning film.
The documentary was shot in Mumbai during the peak of the pandemic’s first and second wave in India in 2020 and 2021. The film was produced by the Board of Governor of Television Academy Award and renowned producer, Daniel H Birman. The documentary was also selected to be released on Spectrum News1 for more than 11.5 million subscribers in Southern California. “It was selected not just for the compelling story it told about the journey of conservancy workers in Mumbai but also how disposable waste we generated across the world impacts us even today,” said Birman.
‘Clean Up’ also reveals the impact of the waste on those living in and around the bio-medical waste incinerator located in Deonar. It throws light and features the work of city environmentalist Stalin D, Mumbai’s Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh’s Milind Ranade, renowned city pulmonologist Dr Vikas Oswal and a few Deonar residents as well as activists who have been fighting for the shifting of the incinerator.
“It turned out to be an investigative visual piece that also explored the global impact of the Covid-19 waste on our planet, with experts from around the world (mostly US, UK, Hong Kong and Canada) sharing their experiences about the challenges and its impact,” said Vaishnavi.
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