[Reader-list] DD-1 to telecast Anand Patwardhan
Moslem Ali Quraishy
quraishy at sarai.net
Thu Oct 5 10:10:50 IST 2006
Finally !
DD-1 to telecast Anand Patwardhan's
"Father, Son and Holy War" on this Sunday, October 8th at 10 a.m. (All
India \
telecast)
At 10 am on Sunday morning, October 8, 2006 an 11 year old battle will
\
finally come to an end. Anand Patwardhan's 1995 documentary "Father, Son
and \
Holy War" on the connection between communal violence and the male psyche
had \
won two National and several international awards. But when he submitted it
\
for telecast, Doordarshan rejected it. Patwardhan took the matter to the
Bombay \
High Court and in 2001 the court ordered DD to telecast the film but DD
\
chose to appeal the matter in the Supreme Court. The SC asked DD to review
the \
film. DD's own preview panel approved the telecast but Prasar Bharati, then
\
dominated by BJP appointees, stepped in and rejected the film. Patwardhan
moved \
the High Court again and won a fresh order to telecast in 2004. Prasar
Bharati \
once again went to the Supreme Court in appeal. Finally on 25 August 2006
\
Justice Lakshmanan and Justice Panta of the Supreme Court upheld the High
\
Court order to telecast the film without cuts within 8
weeks of the judgement.
Noting that several times in the past DD had rejected Patwardhan's \
documentaries until the judiciary forced them to be telecast, the
Honourable \
Justices went so far as to pass strictures against DD and Prasar Bharati
\
reprimanding the broadcaster for finding "flimsy excuses" time and again
not \
to telecast Patwardhan's films.
When asked what DD found so hard to swallow in his films, Patwardhan said:
"When a government and its bureaucrats become averse to the slightest sign
of \
criticism, it signals a lack of self-confidence. America today is passing
\
through a similar phase and resorting to outright censorship to cover up
its \
war crimes in Iraq. In India the BJP openly stifled the secular voice
while \
the Congress merely gave it lip service. Luckily for people like me the
Indian \
Constitution has proven to be much more robust. It is this that gives us
some \
hope for the preservation of our secular democracy."
Patwardhan thanked his lawyers P.A.Sebastian, Prashant Bhushan and Nitya
\
Ramakrishnan for consistently taking up the cause of civil liberties and
human \
rights and expressed the hope that Prasar Bharati would no longer force
people \
like him to go to court.
"Father, Son and Holy War" is a two hour documentary that was shot from
the \
mid 80's to the mid 90's and covers a wide spectrum of events, from the
Sati \
in Deorala in 1987 to the Bombay riots and subsequent bomb blasts in \
1992-1993. It is a critique of the male bias that permeates the dominant
\
religions of the world, with specific reference to Hinduism and Islam in
India, \
and a critique of ruthless politicians who use the communal divide to
further \
their own ends.
In 2004 the film was included by Dox Magazine (Europe) amongst the 50 \
memorable documentaries in world cinema. Information on this film and
other \
works by Anand is available from the website www.patwardhan.com
Thanking You
Regards
Shashi Mehta (09819188806), Simantini Dhuru (09820528030)
Contact for Anand Patwardhan (09819882244) anandpat at gmail.com \
www.patwardhan.com
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