Residue

Abstract

Residue (2012, 39 mins) is set in an abandoned thermal power plant located in the small town of Chandrapur, on the outskirts of Guwahati, one of the largest cities in the state of Assam. The power plant was a public sector utility run by the Assam State Electricity Board. It was abruptly shut following a hike in fuel prices nearly two decades ago. Since that time the power plant site has lain abandoned and falling into disrepair. Residue is a study of this site, and it adopts a slow and contemplative approach. It depicts how the power plant’s units are disintegrating and increasingly being reabsorbed by the indiscriminate and vehement march of rainforest wilderness. Measured camera work follows traces of absent human figures, the labourers whose labours had once animated this site. Through this, the film projects the abandoned power plant as embodying deep senses of loss and pathos.