Even up till the early 2000’s, Vestiwalas or Waterwalas of the city played an important role in supplying clean water at every doorstep especially in the old, rugged Northern parts of the city. Award winning film director Rajaditya Banerjee known particularly for his off-beat documentation of endangered languages and practices is now all set to go global with his venture titled Waterwala. First of its kind, this documentary is Rajaditya’s fifth documentation work and revisits his earliest memories of the practice. This Indo-Finnish production has been shot by Suman Shit, Giridhari Garai and Sudeep Baral while Sumanta Sarkar has coloured, and edited the film. The location sound was recorded by Himadri Adak and Sandeep Roy Karmakar.
“The first time I went to central Kolkata alleys such that of Freeschool Street and Royd Street was with my late father Debashis Bandyopadhyay. It was my father who acquainted me with the lesser explored pockets of Kolkata, with a world of its own. My father wrote a regular column on Old Kolkata Houses in one of the most esteemed publications of all times and naturally had a vast repertoire of knowledge on the past of our city. It was on one such trip that I stumbled upon a Vishti or Waterwala for the first time,” recalls Rajaditya.
The waterwalas are the ones who used to work for the city municipal corporation and deliver fresh water at every doorstep way before technology overpowered nostalgia. The number of Vishti families residing in Kolkata has reduced to a mere number of two or three at present, as most have shifted to other work profiles.
“I started working on this topic around 2016 or 2017 from the alleys of Bowbazar. It took me months to convince Vishti Chacha Isamul as he doubted us for police informers, or people with ill intentions. I think it's high time we start acknowledging and paying to one of the oldest communities of Kolkata, and my documentary is an attempt to do the same,” concludes Rajaditya.