Five years after Godhra, the cine saga against the politics of hate

(The Hindu
March 11, 2007)

Battle for Gujarat

ZIYA US SALAM

Five years after Godhra, the cine saga against the politics of hate continues.

Said the filmmaker, "It was not an easy film to shoot. You see a shot in the beginning where a person is chased by a mob. That was me the mob was chasing."



A still from "Aakrosh": Only a judicial order made public screenings possible.

FIVE years after the Gujarat violence, peddlers of distilled male fantasies like Yash Chopra, Karan Johar and Vidhu Vinod Chopra continue to dabble in dreams. But now there is a breed of intrepid filmmakers daring to expose the reality of everyday life, the reality of the violence in 2002 that claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands homeless. Where the media has failed, they have succeeded.

Often suffering from actual censorship, almost always at the receiving end of political censorship, the likes of Govind Nihalani, Buddhadev Dasgupta, and now Rahul Dholakia have had to fight lonely battles against the politics of hate, raise their voice against the muzzling tactics of the government that has much to hide, little to showcase. And there has been precious little support from the Hindi film industry. Either for them or the likes of Ramesh Pimple, Shubhradeep Chakrvarty, Gauhar Raza, Rakesh Sharma and Sumu Josson, all internationally acclaimed documentary filmmakers who had struggle to screen their films in Gujarat.

Tough times

From Nihalani's "Dev" that faced litigation against its release in Gujarat, to "Fanaa" that encountered mob hostility, all films with stars not in the good books of the saffron forces or showing them in a bad light have had to face rough weather. Dholakia's film "Parzania" is merely the latest. The film has not been banned by the Gujarat Government but has not been allowed screening for a number of reasons, ranging from a possible breach of peace and security to commercial non-viability of the film. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, along with Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra and Ashok Pandit, tried to rally the film fraternity to unite behind Dholakia. A proposal was mooted at the Indian Motion Pictures Association meeting that all filmmakers would stay away from Gujarat if any film passed by the Censor Board were not allowed to be screened in the State. It did not work. Says Bhatt, "The suggestion was debunked by the exhibitors' association. They understand that people who have no value system except that of making money populate the film industry. There is no official ban but you don't have to be a genius to make out that there is an attempt to terrorise the exhibitors in the State. One can understand what is happening in Gujarat."

Prolonged battles

Be it Shubhradeep's "Godhra Tak" or Gauhar's "Junoon Ka Badte Kadam" or Nooh's "Passengers" or even Sharma's "Final Solutions". All the makers have had to fight prolonged battles first to shoot their films, then to get the Censor certificate before finally managing a public release. Political censorship is the last obstacle. All along, the Hindi film industry — where the likes of Chopra arm-twist the multiplex owners into parting as much as 50 per cent of footfall revenue — has remained silent. Chips in Bhatt, "the silence of the good is more devastating than the silence of the bad." Says Shubhradeep, whose hour-long "Godhra Tak" exposed the lie of the Godhra train tragedy; "I have had between 3,000-4,000 shows of the film across the world but not one in Gujarat. Some time back when we had a press screening in Ahmedabad, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad people started harassing us. Police came looking for us. I escaped with the prints of the film but the cops harassed Janpath, a local voluntary group, supporting us. The Government only wants conformism. They are uncomfortable with the truth. If they have nothing to hide, why don't they allow us to show the films in the State?"

Joining hands

Much before Shubhradeep, Pimple had to fare the ire for his film, "Aakrosh". Only a judicial order made the public screenings possible. Says Pimple, "Mine was the first film on the Gujarat genocide. I managed only a private screening in Ahmedabad even though the film won the Best Film on Human Rights Award at the Locarno Film Festival. I could not shoot for my second film talking of a Muslim and a Hindu family in the State. But people have a right to know what happened. We need to join hands. We cannot always be silent spectators."

Joining hands. That is exactly what young Nooh Nizami and Aakanksha Joshi did to put together "Passengers", a 55-minute documentary giving a thumbs-down to the theory of "instant reaction" floated after the train tragedy.

Sharma's well-chronicled experience with "Final Solution" has been the worst. Said the filmmaker, "It was not an easy film to shoot. My camera was smashed; the windscreen broken at another place. You see a shot in the beginning where a person is chased by a mob. That was me the mob was chasing."

Role of politicians

The film, made on a budget of less than Rs.10,00,000, seeks to expose the dubious role of the politicians, focussing on the propaganda of leaders like Pravin Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra. Sharma did not spare other politicians.

Dholakia has done likewise. "I have made the film with all honesty. Everybody has appreciated it wherever we have screened it across the country. I am keen to show the film in Gujarat... Babu Bajrangi is just a frontman. It is quite stupid not to let this film run. If the administration feels that the film might jeopardise peace, then is the infrastructure so weak that a film can topple the government?" He rounds off on a note of caution. "Today it is Gujarat, tomorrow it can be something else." And emphasises Shubhradeep, "We need to collect all the Gujarat-related films, banned directly or indirectly, and screen them".

Meanwhile, even as Dholakia tries to keep his "sanity alive", Bhatt encourages all filmmakers to ask "uncomfortable questions of a system that values only conformity", adding, "to stifle creative thought is the worst kind of injustice". Five years after Godhra, the cine saga against politics of hate continues.