Veteran documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan, has released two 13-minute snippets from his award-winning film, Reason, on YouTube. The snippets give us a peek into the lives of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, both activists on a mission. Both Dabholkar and Pansare were shot dead by unknown assailants on a bike, during their respective morning walks in Pune and Kolhapur respectively.
Exploring the assassinations of Dabholkar, Pansare and Gauri Lankesh with great depth, Patwardhan delves into pre-independence and the roles of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Muslim League. And how vital they were to the creation of Pakistan. “Who killed Mahatma Gandhi? It’s the same ideology that killed Dabholkar too,” says Pansare in a speech right in the aftermath of Dabholkar’s murder. The documentary suggests that the far-right Hindu forces were threatened by Gandhi, for he wished to abolish the caste system and erase the practice of untouchability.
Patwardhan, who has previously directed acclaimed feature documentaries like Ram Ke Naam (1992), Jai Bhim Comrade (2012) was awarded the Best Feature-Length Documentary at the International Documentary Filmfest Amsterdam (IDFA). Which is, to put things in perspective, the equivalent of winning the Palm D’Or (Cannes) or the Golden Lion (Berlinale) in the world of documentaries. Reason (Hindi title: Vivek) was also screen at TIFF 2018, where some described it as ‘hypnotic’.
Reason takes a deep dive into finding the roots of right-wing radicals, only further encouraged since 2014, and the threat they pose to the secular nature of this country. Patwardhan plans on releasing six more chapters from his documentary, ahead of the elections. Interestingly, this comes right in time as Vivek Oberoi’s PM Narendra Modi gets clearance to release one day before the polling begins on April 11.
All videos will be posted on a daily basis on this YouTube channel – Vivek Reason.
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