''Jai Bhim Comrade'' is a 2011 Indian documentary film directed by
Anand Patwardhan
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 o ...
. The film begins with a description of police violence in the
1997 Ramabai killings. It goes on to explore various aspects of the lives and politics of
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
people in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. The film took 14 years to produce, and was released in 2011 after the conclusion of the court trials that followed the Ramabai incident. The film was widely shown both nationally and internationally, and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction. It has won numerous national and international awards.
Synopsis
Ramabai colony killings
''Jai Bhim Comrade'' begins with a description of the
Indian caste system
The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, espe ...
and its oppression of the
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
community.
The film includes a song by Dalit poet and activist
Vilas Ghogre, followed by a shot of a newspaper clipping describing his suicide in reaction to the
Ramabai killings in 1997.
The documentary then describes the killings; on 11 July 1997 a statue of
B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...
in the
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
colony of Ramabai had a garland of footwear placed over it, an act considered to be a desecration. An initially peaceful protest was fired upon by a team of
Special Reserve Police Force members, killing ten protesters, and other protests later in the day saw further police violence. Commentators stated that the violence was motivated by caste-based prejudices, as the leader of the police team stood accused of several cases of mistreatment of Dalit people.
The Dalit singer, poet, and activist Vilas Ghogre hanged himself in protest at the incident.
After narrating the incidents surrounding the killing, the documentary follows Patwardhan on his visits to the families of those killed in the firing, as well as to Ghogre's wife.
The film tries to reconstruct the incident by interviewing witnesses on both sides. The footage shot by a civilian bystander is used to contradict the description of the incident given by the police.
The film then shows interviews with many of Ghoghre's colleagues, who discuss the state of Dalit politics in India. In a voice-over, Patwardhan describes the life of Ambedkar, and his activism against the caste system.
The interviews are interspersed with other Dalits describing difficulties and discrimination they face in their lives.
This section of the documentary also explores the relationship between the Dalit activist movement. The film describes the complicity of the
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...
in the Ramabai killings, and shows
Bal Thackeray
Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian cartoonist and politician who founded the original Shiv Sena, a far-right, a pro- Marathi and a Hindu nationalist party active mainly in ...
at a public rally stating that Muslims need to be exterminated.
The film then contrasts the Shiv Sena's attempts to portray itself as the champion of the Dalit cause, with the speeches and songs of the Dalit leaders attempting to counteract this.
Kabir Kala Manch
The second part of the film focuses on contemporary Dalit activism, chiefly the activities of the
Kabir Kala Manch
Kabir Kala Manch was a cultural organisation that was formed in Pune, Maharashtra, India, in the wake of the Gujarat riots in 2002. Through music, poetry and theatre, it aims to spread an anti-caste, pro-democracy message. It comprises students ...
, a troupe of singers using their performances to raise awareness and support for their cause. Many clips of songs and protests are shown, together with interviews with the leaders of the troupe.
The film describes the initial successes of the troupe during the protests that followed the
Khairlanji massacre in 2006. The ideology of the group was a mixture of that of Ambedkar fused with
left-wing ideology. However, the group was soon branded a
Naxalite
Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology.
Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight ...
outfit, and led to it being targeted by the
Anti-terrorist squad
The Special Tactics Group (STG) is the full-time police tactical group of the New Zealand Police. The STG, originally named the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), was established to respond to high-risk situations which are beyond the scope or capa ...
. Several members were forced to go on the run, while others were arrested.
The film ends with interviews with the mothers of two of the members of Kabir Kala Manch that had been forced to go underground.
Production
''Jai Bhim Comrade'' was filmed over a period of 14 years, from 1997 to its release in 2011. Part of the reason it took that length of time was that Patwardhan wanted to wait for the outcome of the trials that followed the Ramabai incident before finishing the documentary. The documentary also uses a significant amount of archival footage from Patwardhan's previous documentary ''Bombay Our City'', released in 1985.
Music is featured heavily, almost as much as spoken words. Patwardhan stated that one of the reasons for the film's 200 minute length was that he felt like he could not cut any of the footage while editing it, as it all contributed to the atmosphere of the film.
Reception and analysis
In a review of the film,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
criticised its style, saying that the use of music got repetitive, and that the length of the film made it inaccessible. However, the review stated that the content was "astoundingly important," and that "''Jai Bhim Comrade'' is an incredibly important work that brings to attention a broad culture of atrocious oppression, dismantling entirely any argument that caste-discrimination is a thing of the past."
A review in
''Outlook'' magazine suggested that an important aspect of the film was the exploration of the tension between the Ambedkarite Dalit activist movement, and the mainstream left-wing movement exemplified in the various communist outfits. The Dalit activists shown in the film, such as the Kabir Kala Manch, represented the true intersection of Dalit and left-wing activism.
The review also commented that some Dalit activists had begun to associate with the
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...
despite its leader Bal Thackeray making hate-speeches against Muslims, and contrasted them with the Kabir Kala Manch, which was the "new hope on the horizon."
The scholar Balmurli Natarajan, writing in the journal ''
Economic and Political Weekly
The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (EPW) is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru will be ...
'', stated that the film spoke to the need for solidarity between the Dalit movement and the leftist movement, and that the unpunctuated title of the film spoke to this.
A review in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' said that the film "exposed the glaring realities...about the continuing oppression of the poorer castes," and that it could be seen as "a capstone to Patwardhan's extraordinary career."
The anthropologist Deborah Matzner said that the film contrasted the "thetrical Hindutva" of the Shiv Sena with the "poignant and defiant" political music of the Kabir Kala Manch, and said that "blatant and appalling hate speech
f Bal Thackerayserves as the dark corollary to Dalit leaders’ skillful, rousing oratory and song."
A review in the film magazine ''
Jump Cut
A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing that breaks a single continuous sequential shot of a subject into two parts, with a piece of footage removed to create the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positioning on the subjec ...
'' stated that "This film explores and valorizes one of the best examples of cultural and political struggle today."
Film critic
Mark Cousins wrote that the film "is about the
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
people like
Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the great ...
is about London. It’s a
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
that bubbles like a stream and then – over its 3 hour running time –opens and deepens like a river." He called Patwardhan "the greatest Asian
documentarist
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill Nic ...
" and bemoaned the fact that "
st
..major film festivals in the West" rejected the film, writing that they "often show docs about small parts of Western life, yet
..couldn't find space for this polygeneric film of much greater amplitude that covers decades, generations, great iniquity and the historical
picaresque
The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt ...
." He goes on to suggest the film's complexity and many Westerners' unfamiliarity with the subject matter as possible reasons for it being ignored.
British-Ghanaian writer and filmmaker
Kodwo Eshun
Kodwo Eshun (born 1967) is a British -Ghanaian writer, theorist and filmmaker. He is perhaps best known for his 1998 book ''More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction'' and his association with the art collective The Otolith Grou ...
voted for the film on ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...
''
's poll of "The Greatest Documentaries of All Time", as did two other critics (Julia Lesage and Cheuk To-Li).
Awards
* Ram Bahadur Grand Prize, Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011
* Best Film/Video,
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 (India), Ministry of Infor ...
, India, 2012
* Firebird Award for Best documentary,
Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong.
HKIFF screens ...
, 2012
*
Special Jury Prize,
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...
, India, 2012
* Bartok Prize, Jean Rouch Film International Film Festival, 2012
Nominations
Docufest Competition, 48th
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
, 2012.
References
External links
*
Official website{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525193614/http://patwardhan.com/films/Jai%20Bhim%20Comrade.htm , date=25 May 2014
Indian documentary films
2011 films
Anand Patwardhan
Cultural depictions of B. R. Ambedkar
Films about the caste system in India
Bal Thackeray
Films directed by Anand Patwardhan