Ohoti: When the tide recedes directed by Gaurav Patil.

Ohoti : When the Tide Recedes is a 26 minute 47 second Marathi docu-drama, with English subtitles, directed and produced by Mumbai-based marine biologist-turned-filmmaker Gaurav Patil. It follows Pradip Patade, a marine enthusiast in his late 50s, on a final search for a rare crab species he last documented in 2017 and which his mentor, Dr. B. F. Chhapgar, first recorded in the late 1950s.

Story

Set in Mumbai, the film follows Pradip and a group of fellow “tidepoolers” as they attempt to search for a crab during the season’s last accessible spring low-tide, before the monsoon closes off the intertidal zone. Their search becomes more than a biological quest: it exposes the pressures facing the city’s shores, including rapid coastal development, pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change.

The documentary frames Mumbai’s intertidal ecosystem as an overlooked urban frontline rather than a forgotten edge of the city. Through Pradip’s decades of shore walks and community-led explorations, it also celebrates the people who document and defend this fragile marine legacy.

Approach

Director Gaurav Patil describes Ohoti as both a natural-history quest and an intimate portrait of one man’s enduring love for the sea. The film deliberately balances tension between loss and hope, asking what it means to care for a city that continually rebuilds itself over nature.

Production

The film features Pradip Patade, co-founder of Marine Life of Mumbai and director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, alongside fishers, educators, zoologists, students, designers, and other coastal-community contributors. Cinematography and editing are by Atharva Raut, with additional cinematography by Sarang Naik and Samyak Bhat; Samin Raza composed the music, while Pradip Patade and Ganesh Raut provide narration.

Overall, Ohoti uses one elusive crab to tell a larger story of urban biodiversity, scientific stewardship, intergenerational knowledge, and the quiet persistence required to keep Mumbai’s coastal life visible.