Stop! Before Bollywood’s Exotic Locations Turn Into Garbage Dumps

Dirty pictures from Bollywood appear on Delhi walls to draw people’s attention to garbage.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. (Design: Shaily Gupta)

Plastic, electronic waste, scrap metal and all sorts of garbage has become part of our daily lives but what if it got to the point that our favourite Bollywood couple, Shah Rukh and Kajol, had to sing, dance and romance amid this garbage. Disturbing?

Karma Recycling, a turnkey manager of waste, got together with Delhi, I Love You and artist Shaily Gupta, to create a social campaign to bring people’s attention to waste recycling, civic cleanliness and environment conservation.

The poster’s got it bang on – jab kachra ho har jagah, toh kachre se kyun darta hai dil? (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

Sure, bade bade deshon mein aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hai; but we doubt Simran will be in much of a listening mood when she’s being romanced on a bed of garbage! (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

Those net saris and mesh shirts aren’t going to keep that stink off Shah Rukh and Kajol. Just saying. (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

In the posters, designer Shaily Gupta has mercilessly replaced the exotic, romantic locations of iconic films with the toxic garbage that we allow to gather in heaps. No matter how much that may hurt our cinema-crazy nation, it cleverly says that if you love your city as much as you love Bollywood, then you need to clean it up.

I discovered a huge dump in a park which I visit almost every day. Face-to-face with our own waste made me think that it was all coming too close. If we don’t stop it now, it will swallow our lives, our spaces, our moments.
— Shaily Gupta, Artist

Sharmila Tagore’s blue swimsuit act in An Evening in Paris is the stuff erotic dreams are made of. But we’re pretty sure that pool of garbage behind her is what nightmares are made of. (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

Garbage is a huge problem in India. India is among the top most waste generators in the world. Delhi alone produces 8,500 tonnes of solid waste, 5,000 tonnes of electronic waste, 500-600 million gallons of sewage and 10 metric tonnes of bio-medical waste every day.

EVERY DAY!

Explaining why she designed these images, Shaily says, “There is garbage everywhere. But our movies remain clean. If we don’t stop, this could happen even to our Bollywood movies.”

Aren’t you scared she’s going to slip on her pallu and topple into empty plastic cups? (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

When Hrithik Roshan emerged from underneath deep waters, many women held their breath. When Hrithik Roshan emerges from a pool of stink, many more will faint. (Photo: Shaily Gupta)

Shaily has done an entire series on garbage on her blog shailygupta.wordpress.com. Bollywood posters are a part of this series, aimed at driving home the message of recycling waste.

Here’s a poster on a garbage disposal site in Delhi. If this doesn’t get people thinking, we don’t know what will. (Photo: DILY)

For Karma Recycling, it was all about catching the public’s attention. And once you get them to notice something, how do you ensure it stays in their mind? Bring in Bollywood, was their answer.

When a person comes and drops their trash, they look at the poster and expect a new SRK movie. When they look closer, they see Kuch kuch kooda hota hai Rahul, tum nahi samjhoge, they laugh and get the message.
— Akshat Ghiya, Co-founder & Director, Karma Recycling

Poster on a garbage disposal site in Delhi. (Photo: DILY)

Through the campaign, they want to create awareness about proper waste disposal and recycling. Waste of all kinds can go through a proper channel. The campaign is linked to a website called recycleyourwaste.in. It lists several companies that are into recycling with their contact details.

It’s harder to convince people to reduce consumption in a consumption-driven society like ours. Our campaign aims to create awareness about reuse and recycle. We want people to become responsible citizens who recycle their waste properly.
— Akshat Ghiya, Co-founder & Director, Karma Recycling