Anand Patwardhan (born 18 February 1950) is an Indian documentary filmmaker known for his socio-political, human rights-oriented films. Some of his films explore the rise of religious fundamentalism, sectarianism and casteism in India, while others investigate nuclear nationalism and unsustainable development. Notable films include ''Bombay: Our City'' (''Hamara Shahar'') (1985), ''In Memory of Friends'' (1990), '' In the Name of God'' (''Ram ke Nam'') (1992), '' Father, Son, and Holy War'' (1995), '' A Narmada Diary'' (1995), ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'' (2002) and '' Jai Bhim Comrade'' (2011), and ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...

'' (2018) which have won national and international awards.

Biography

Patwardhan was born on 18 February 1950, in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Maharashtra. He completed a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

in English literature at

Mumbai University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

in 1970, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

in 1972, and a Master of Arts in Communication Studies at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1982. He is a member of the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

Academy.

Films

Virtually all of Patwardhan's documentary films have faced censorship from the Indian government, eventually being cleared after legal action. His film '' Bombay: Our City'' was shown on TV after a four-year court case, while '' Father, Son, and Holy War'' (1995) was adjudged in 2004 as one of 50 most memorable international documentaries of all time by DOX, Europe's leading documentary film magazine. Father, Son, and Holy War was shown on India's National Network,

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

, only in the year 2006, 11 years after its making, after a prolonged court battle which lasted ten years and ended with the nation's Supreme Court ordering the network to telecast the film without any cuts. The

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

(CBFC), refused to certify his next film, ''

'', released in 2002. The board demanded 21 cuts before it would be certified. Patwardhan took the government to court, leading to the film being banned for over a year. However, after a court battle, Patwardhan won the right to screen his film without a single cut. As with his previous films, Patwardhan also successfully fought to force a reluctant national broadcaster,

, to show this film on their national network. It was commercially released in multiplexes in 2005.War and Peace hits the box office for the first time in India

Tehelka ''Tehelka'' (Hindi: Sensation) is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and an ...

, 25 June 2005. His 2011 documentary, Jai Bhim Comrade, was based on a police firing incident against Dalits at Ramabai Colony in Mumbai in 1997. The film, which took 14 years to complete, is considered by many to be a watershed in Patwardhan's long career. In 2013 the Sheffield International Film Festival honoured Patwardhan with an Inspiration Award. In 2014 the Mumbai International Film Festival honoured him with the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award. Upon being asked in a BFI interview to deliver a message for future documentary filmmakers, Patwardhan famously replied, ''"No message really. Do it only if it burns when you don't."''

Filmography

* 1971: "Waves of Revolution" (''Kraanti Ki Tarangein''): This film was on government repression in

Bihar Movement The JP movement also known as Bihar Movement was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar in 1974 and led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, against misrule and corruptio ...

. * 1978: "Prisoners of Conscience" (''Zameer ke Bandi''): a film on political prisoners in

The Emergency (India) The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution be ...

** The Tyne Award, Tyneside Festival, UK, 1982. * 1981: "A Time to Rise" (''Uthan da Vela'')]: Concerns Indian immigrant farm workers' efforts to unionise in Canada. ** Grand Prize: Tyneside International Film Festival, UK in 1982 ** Silver Dove: International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Leipzig International Film Festival in 1982. * 1985: "Bombay: Our City" (''Hamara Shahar''): Everyday survival issues of slum dwellers in Bombay. **

National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several award ...

1986 ** Special Jury Award, Cinema du reel, France, 1986 ** Filmfare Award for Best Documentary, 1986 * 1990: 'In Memory of Friends' (''Una Mitran Di Yaad Pyaari''): On rebuilding communal harmony in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. ** National Film Award for Best Investigative Film, 1990 ** Silver Conch,

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

in 1990 Anand Patwardhan Films. ** Special Jury Award, Mannheim International Film festival, 1990 * 1992: "In the Name of God" (''Ram ke Nam''): On the rise of Hindu Nationalism and the demolition of the

Babri Mosque Babri Masjid ( IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim commun ...

. ** National Film Award for Best Investigative Film, 1992 ** Filmfare Award for Best Documentary, 1996 ** Best Documentary Film at

Fribourg International Film Festival The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Grand Prize is the main award of the Fribourg International Film Festival ...

, 1993 ** Citizen's Prize,

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan ( ). It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and ...

, 1993. * 1993: ''We are not your Monkeys'': A Dalit critique of the epic

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages e ...

through a music video. * 1995: '' Father, Son, and Holy War'' **

National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues The National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several ...

and National Film Award for Best Investigative Film, 1996 ** Toronto Film Festival, 1994 ** Special Jury Prize, Vancouver Film Festival, 1994 ** Special Jury Award,

, 1995 ** Grand Prize, Jerusalem International Film Festival, 1996. ** Audience Award, Sheffield International Film Festival, 2010 * 1996: ''A Narmada Diary'' : Introduces the

Narmada Bachao Andolan ''Narmada Bachao Andolan'' (NBA) is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals (''adivasis''), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across the Narmada River, which flows thro ...

of Gujarat. ** Grand Prize at the Earth Vision Film Festival in 1996. ** Filmfare Award for Best Documentary 1996. * 1996: ''Occupation: Mill Worker'': Chronicles the actions of mill workers who, after a four-year lock-out, forcibly occupied The New Great Eastern Mill in India. * 1998: ''Fishing: In the Sea of Greed'': Response of fishing communities in India and Bangladesh, to industrial-scale fishing. * 1998: ''Ribbons for Peace'': An anti-nuke music video. * 2002: ''

'' ** Grand Prize at the Earth Vision Film Festival in 2002 ** Best Film at

in 2002 ** FIPRESCI International Critics' Award at

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Hist ...

in 2002 ** Best Documentary in

Karachi International Film Festival The Karachi International Film Festival, simply known as the Kara Film Festival (Urdu: ''کارا فلم فیسٹیول'' or ''کارا فلم'') was founded in 2001 by the KaraFilm Society, reportedly in response to the declining state of th ...

in 2003 **

, India, 2004, etc. * 2006: ''Images You Didn't See'': Music video that interprets images gleaned from the net-images that either never appear in the mainstream media, or images whose import are masked behind a velvet curtain of global infotainment. * 2009: ''Children of Mandala'': A message from the economically displaced children of a slum colony in Mumbai. * 2011: ''Jai Bhim Comrade'': a documentary film based on a real incident – the killing of 10

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a ...

s by police in Mumbai, 1997. ** Ram Bahadur Grand Prize, Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011 ** Best Film/Video, Mumbai International Film Festival, India, 2012 ** Firebird Award for Best documentary, Hong Kong Film Festival, 2012 ** Special Jury Prize, National Film Awards, India, 2012 ** Bartok Prize, Jean Rouch Film International Film Festival, 2012 * 2018: ''Reason'' / ''Vivek'': the war between faith and rationality. An eight-part documentary. ** IDFA Award for best feature-length documentary, 2018 **Audience Award at the

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is an annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California. Established by Christina Marouda in 2003, as a nonprofit organization devoted to paving the way for a greater appreciation of Indian cinema

, 2019

References

External links

Websites on Anand Patwardhan's work

Opinion: Anand Patwardhan – Nation's Conscience-Keeper

Anand Patwardhan Website

Anand Patwardhan
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

The Films of Anand Patwardhan

Anand Patwardhan materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

Interviews

Anand Patwardhan interviewed by Chandana Mathur for ''SAMAR Magazine'', Winter 1992
* Kathleen Maclay
"Anand Patwardhan, the 'Michael Moore of India,' brings his hard-hitting documentary films to campus"
''UB Berkeley News'', 13 October 2004
Director's Interview
- BBC interview
All the dire predictions of communal carnage made in my film came true

Interview: Firebrand filmmaker Anand Patwardhan CNNGO Website

Firebrand filmmaker Anand Patwardhan - Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace Website

Of The 200 Killed In Mumbai, A High Number Were Muslims - Tehelka Interview, 2008

Writings

The Good Doctor of Chhattisgarh - Association for India's Development Website
*

*

Reviews

* Ammu Joseph

August 2002 - Tehelka
Short is Sweet - Tehelka
* * Elvis Mitchell
"FILM REVIEW; Weapons of Mass Pride: India's Nuclear Embrace"
''The New York Times'', 26 June 2003

Video clips

o
YouTube
* * * * *Vivek-Reason o
YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patwardhan, Anand 20th-century Indian film directors 1950 births Activists from Maharashtra Brandeis University alumni Film directors from Mumbai Indian anti–nuclear weapons activists Indian civil rights activists Indian documentary filmmakers Living people Marathi people McGill University alumni University of Mumbai alumni