Film Screening and Discussion
Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa, Directors
Chair: Rohit Chandra, PhD candidate, Harvard Kennedy School
4:00-5:30 pm – Film Screening
5:30 – 6:30 pm – Discussion and Q&A with Directors
Katiyabaaz is a 2014 Indian Hindi documentary film directed by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa about the problem of power theft in Kanpur. Released in India on August 22, 2014, the film is shot in Kanpur city, which faces long power cuts, giving rise to the profession of Loha Singh, a local electricity thief orkatiyabaaz in localities like Chaman Ganj. He provides illegal electricity connections to people, while Ritu Maheshwari, MD of KESCo, Kanpur Electricity Supply Company, tries to tackle the issue of rampant electricity theft.
The film was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival 2013 and later won the Best Film in the India Gold Section at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival. At the61st National Film Awards the film won the ward for Best Investigative Film.Katiyabaaz premiered on American television on Independent Lens – PBS on November 3, 2014
Co-Sponsored by the Harvard Electricity Policy Group and the Energy Technology Innovation Program
