rashtra;anothermansayshe has
dedicated his life to the BajrangDal.
Thepridein theirvoices is frighten-
ing.
Patwardhanrevealsskillfulin-
terviewing andeditingtechniques
whenhe interviews Hindutvawadis.
He hastheability to provokethem
andmakethemsay the mostridicu-
lousthings.In onescene, he asksa
member of the AkhilBharatiya Vidy-
arthiParishadwhois participating
in a processionto memorialisethe
deathof a soldier if he knewthe
nameof anySanghParivar member
whohad foughtin the freedom
struggle.Theyouth looksstumped.
Theepisode on the Sanatan Sanstha
revealsa darkanddangerousorgan-
isationthatcouldbe the at the rootof
saffron terror. Patwardhan ques-
tionsthe factthatin spiteof several
leadsthatpoint to the Sanatan San-
sthabeinginvolvedin thedeathsof
thefourrationalists,theorganisa-
tionseemsoff the radarin the invest-
igation. Thefootageon Dalityouths
in Unain Gujaratbeingbeaten for
skinninga cow,or Muslimmenbe-
ingtorturedin theepisodes on the
Dadri(Uttar Pradesh) killingare
deeplydisturbing.Twomenhanging
froma treeat the endof the sequence
is a tragicandtellingsymbolof the
currentclimateof intolerance.
Reasonalsolooksat thereasons
behindthesuicideof theDalitstu-
dentleaderRohithVemula.Inter-
viewswithVemula’sassociatesand
friends expose the presence of
blatantdiscrimination towardsDal-
its andtheso-calledlowercastesin
university campuses.Butthepower
of the student movement comes
throughin theVemulaepisode and
the nextoneon KanhaiyaKumar,the
JawaharlalNehru University stu-
dentleaderwhowasarrestedin a
seditioncase.
By dedicating an entireepisode
to KanhaiyaKumar, whospeaksof
the absurdityof the anti-nationaltag
andwhydissentis a badwordfor the
currentregime,Patwardhanunder-
linesthefactthatdemocracyis at
hugeriskwiththerightwingin
power.In several episodes,Patward-
hanweavesin political songssungby
Dalits,farmers, socialworkersand
students. Betweenthe songs and the
visuals,an effectivetoolis createdto
drivehomea message.
Therehavebeenmanyconspir-
acy theoriesbehindthe 26/11attacks
on Mumbai andthe killingof former
Anti-TerrorismSquadchiefHemantKarkare. Several topofficersbelieve
therewasa saffronhandbehindthe
attack. Patwardhan explores this
angleandtheMalegoanandGoa
blasts.It is a contentiousanddiffi-
cultissueto depict throughfilm. Yet,
he makesan attemptat piecingto-
getherthe facts.
Some of Patwardhan’s other
politicallychargedfilmsareWaves
of Revolution(1978),A Timeto Rise
(1981),In theNameof God(1992),
Father,SonandHolyWar(1995),A
Narmada Diary(1995)andWar
andPeace(2002).He fought a pro-
tractedbattle with the censorboard
over WarandPeace. The board
askedfor severalcuts,including re-
movingall speechesby politicians.
Patwardhanrefusedandtook the
matterto court. Thecourtruledin
hisfavour ,andit was allowedfor
screeningon national televisiona
yearlater. He foughta similarbattle
forFather,SonandHolyWar. In
the end,a goodfilm anda goodfilm-
makercannotbe keptdown.Pat-
wardhan hascertainlyputhimself
in thelineof dangerthistime,but
crusadersknowtheirworkshavea
largerpurpose.Reasonhas thatpur-
pose,andhopefully,it will be viewed
widely. $CONFRONTINGISSUESoftheday.(Left
andabove)Scenesfromthedocumentary.