Please forward this appeal to other like-minded institutions, organisations and individuals as well .
Over the last couple of years, some of you have spoken to me about revisiting Final Solution and making a new film – Gujarat: 5 years after the carnage. You'd be happy to know that I have been filming in Gujarat for the last several months for the follow-up film. The filming has been done in Modasa, Idar, Kalol, Halol, Godhra, Lunawada, Baroda, Chhota Udepur, Himmatnagar, Ahmedabad, Limdi, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Rajkot etc. We've already done a bulk of our filming, though we plan to continue filming till the election results are announced and the new Assembly is sworn in.
We hope to offer a comprehensive film sometime next year. However, all of us in the team also feel that we must release at least a short version of the film pre-elections to enable activists, NGOs and others to intervene during the electoral process by holding screenings and discussions.
We aim to finish these in early/mid October and make them available on VCD. These early versions would be available only in Gujarati as they are most likely to be used in Gujarat during November 2007.
I write to you to seek your assistance. While I have so far managed all the filming and editing related expenses personally (thanks to a grant from the Singh Foundation and damages received from NYPD!), I'm now seeking completion funds to be able to release the version in October. Broadly speaking, we propose the following:
a. To approach a broad network of individuals and like-minded organisations and individuals for funding assistance.
b. To invite contributions not exceeding Rs 10,000 from a single organization and Rs 5,000 from an individual.
c. Against the contribution, the individual/ organisation will get a credit in the film. The title would normally read - " Funding support from" followed by the full list.
d. The individual/ organisation will also get VCD copies of the film against this contribution. The proposal is to offer
* Contribution (individuals only): Rs 2000; VCDs offered: 21
* Contribution (organizations/ individuals): Rs 5000; VCDs offered: 51
* Contribution (organizations only): Rs 10000;VCDs offered: 120
We hope that these multiple copies would be distributed by the concerned organisation/ individual free to their activists, friends and colleagues so they can be circulated and screened widely, especially in Gujarat before the forthcoming elections. The VCDs offered are total number of discs - the first film is on 2 VCDs while the farmer film is on a single VCD (ie, each set is 3 VCDs). Details about the proposed films are enclosed below.
I request you to lend your support to the films under production. Please write to me personally at the earliest ( rakeshfilm@gmail.com or PO Box 12023, Azad Nagar, Mumbai 400053).
With Gratitude
Rakesh Sharma
website: www.rakeshfilm.com
blog: rakeshindia.blogspot.com
ps: Please do not circulate to the Press - we'd like no speculation or publicity till the films are formally released.
The films currently being edited for an October release deal broadly with the following:
After the Storm:
Five years after the carnage, what is the state of Relief and Rehabilitation? The Supreme Court's intervention in carnage-related cases has dominated media headlines, but what really is the true story behind the victims' quest for Justice? Away from major cases like the Naroda Patiya massacre or Gulberg or Best Bakery and Pandarwada, what is the fate of other FIRs and court cases filed by the victims?
The film goes beyond highlighting the plight of the Muslim community in Gujarat. It probes other dimensions of the issue by specifically looking at the patterns of arrests and litigation. A majority of those charged with rioting, arson, murder etc are either tribals or Dalits and OBCs. An analysis of those arrested from 32 police stations in Ahmedabad suggests that of the 1577 detainees, only 30-odd were upper caste! Are these footsoldiers victims too? Cynically recruited, then discarded, left to rot in jails, what do the 'perpetrators of the violence feel today about the VHP and the BJP?
The film is likely to be in two parts of approximately an hour each, both complete in themselves (to enable a separate showing of just one part, if necessary) and may possibly be split into two films.
Seeds of Sorrow:
Though the BJP romped home with a brute majority in the 2002 assembly elections, it suffered an electoral reverse during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP managed to get 14 seats while the Congress won the other 12. The result is attributed in part to agitations by the Sangh's own Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, which was then agitating against the power tariff hike. In many pockets, it even asked its members to abstain from voting, which perhaps also explains the far lower turnout for the Lok Sabha elections.
Over the last several months, we have been tracking what can only be termed as an unreported story - Farmer suicides in Gujarat. We have primarily been filming in the Saurashtra region, though suicides are not confined to this belt. A few months ago, we got queries filed under the RTI Act to dig up details of all suicides. Though the government denied us the data initially, after appeals and hearings, some details have now been formally handed to us. While Modi recently told the Gujarat Assembly that only 148 farmers have committed suicide in Gujarat, the data handed to us is for 366 suicides! We have also managed to dig up the data for all claims paid and denied under the Kisan Bima Yojana that cover farmers' accidental deaths. Of the 1200-odd claims, several have been denied – we are now probing the grounds of denial (eg, was it actually a suicide reported as an accident to help fudge the figures?)
This film would also deal with the issue of farmer debts, BT cotton cultivation, power tariff, irrigation (where is the promised Narmada water?) and the opposition to SEZs Rajula and Jasapara.
We are aiming to finish a version in early/mid October. To begin with, there would only be one version of the film - Gujarati, possibly with English subtitles.
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