Priya Thuvassery - India / 2017 / 32’
Survey Number Zero’ is an ethnographic documentary on the making of salt in Gujarat,
a state which produces 70% of the salt in India. Despite its tremendous everyday
utility, “common salt” is usually taken for granted. And salt farmers are hardly the
heroes of history or mythology, ballad or legend.
This film journeys through the lives of Hansaben, Bhawanaben and Pashiben, three
women farmers of different ages as they go through three stages of salt farming in
the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
The film was shot over eight months, which is how long it takes for farmers to cultivate
salt and through their lives looks at the problems they face in health, education, water,
and – most importantly – land rights.
The lands of the Little Rann of Kutch belong to the Government of Gujarat and this
vast land mass has never been surveyed. Under the land revenue
department, the entire area has just one survey number - ‘zero. Nationally this may be
a unique unsurveyed land mass. Land plays a crucial role in the lives of these salt
farmers, hence the title ‘Survey Number Zero’.
