In Ghazipur’s Mulla colony, there is a looming presence that cannot be forgotten. Just 100 m away from the locality is a 73-feet mound of trash, which emits noxious fumes that cloud life in this Uttar Pradesh district. Writer and filmmaker Jatin Parveen recalls passing by the landfill every day on his way to see his relative, Shilpi, who resides in the area. “You feel the omnipresence of that landfill all the time. Even inside the houses, with  the AC on, the air is toxic.” 

Parveen, who works in Mumbai but grew up in Ghaziabad, is earnest, almost insistent, on highlight the issues that the Ghazipur community faces due to the stench, filth, and the “waste mafia” controlling their lives. These issues are brought to the forefront in Gauraiya, a short film he created with cinematographer Nitesh Sharma and sound designer Partham Kar to depict life from the vantage point of the mountain of waste.