Zinemaya Blog

Anand Patwardhan is an Indian documentary filmmaker, known for his
activism through social action documentaries on topics such as
corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and
communalism.[1][2][3][4] Notable films include Bombay: Our City
(1985), Ram ke Nam (In the Name of God) (1992), Pitr, Putr aur
Dharmayuddha (Father, Son and Holy War) (1995), and Jang aur Aman (War
and Peace) (2002),[5] which have won national and International
awards.

Anand Patwardhan describes himself as “a non-serious human being
forced by circumstance to make serious films.” Active for three
decades in the fight for social justice, both in India and abroad,
Patwardhan makes documentaries out of passionate political commitment.
His films advocate for change with sincerity and conviction, but not
without wry humor and an eye for the absurd.
Virtually all his films faced censorship by the Indian authorities but
were finally cleared after legal action. However, he has won the
National Award a number of times, alongwith several international
awards such as The Tyne Award at the Tyneside Festival, the Silver
Dove at the Leipzig International Film Festival, Best Documentary Film
at Fribourg International Film Festival, Grand Prize, Jerusalem
International Film Festival and many others.
Zinemaya offers three of his most acclaimed documentaries:

WAR AND PEACE (JUNG AUR AMAN) slips seamlessly from a description of
home made jingoism to focus on how an aggressive United States has
become a role model, its doctrine of “Might is Right” only too
well-absorbed by aspiring elites of the developing world. As we enter
the 21st century, war has become perennial, enemies are re-invented
and economies are inextricably tied to the production and sale of
weapons. In the moral wastelands of the world memories of Gandhi seem
like a mirage that never was, created by our thirst for peace and our
very distance from it. Anand Patwardhan’s impressive, passionate
documentary explores in great detail the roots of sectarian violence
in India today. A natural for cutting-edge TV docu slots, the film,
which is extremely well researched and assembled, was widely seen at
international film festivals.
Watch it on zinemaya:War and Peace

FATHER, SON AND HOLY WAR explores in two parts the possibility that
the psychology of violence against “the other” may lie in male
insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of
“manhood.” In the first part, a reference to the ordeal Hindu god-king
Lord Rama tested his wife Sita’s fidelity with, looks at the communal
fires which have consumed India in recent years. “Sati,” a rite by
which Roop Kanwar was thrown on her husband’s funeral pyre; the upper
castes’ “purifying” fire rituals and the communal fires that ravaged
Bombay after the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya are set against a
small group of fire fighters: a Rajasthani woman who, against the
odds, condemns Sati; a Muslim woman who battles gender discriminatory
laws; and a band of Hindus and Muslims who march for communal harmony
in the riot-torn streets of Bombay. The second part, examines
“manhood” in the context of religious strife. The Hindu majority has
been raised on stories of marauding Muslim invaders who raped their
women, destroyed their temples, and forced religious conversions.
Today, some Hindus demand revenge for crimes committed centuries ago.
They reject non-violence as impotence and set out to be “real men.”
Watch it on zinemaya:
Father, son, and Holy War

IN THE NAME OF GOD focuses on the campaign waged by the militant
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to destroy a 16th century mosque in
Ayodhya said to have been built by Babar, the first Mughal Emperor of
India. The VHP claim the mosque was built at the birth-site of the
Hindu god Ram after Babar razed an existing Ram temple. They are
determined to build a new temple to Ram on the same site. This
controversial issue, which successive governments have refused to
resolve, has led to religious riots which have cost thousands their
lives, culminating in the mosque’s destruction by the Hindus in
December of 1992. The resulting religious violence immediately spread
throughout India and Pakistan leaving more than 5,000 dead, and
causing thousands of Indian Muslims to flee their homes.
Watch it on zinemaya:
In The Name Of God