Jai Bhim Comrade

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Jai Bhim Comrade
DVD cover
Directed byAnand Patwardhan
Produced byAnand Patwardhan
CinematographySimantini Dhuru, Anand Patwardhan
Edited byAnand Patwardhan
Music byVilas Ghogre
Release date
  • September 2011 (2011-09) (Film South Asia)
Running time
199 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguagesEnglish, Hindi, Marathi

Jai Bhim Comrade is a 2011 Indian documentary film directed by Anand Patwardhan. 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 people in Mumbai. 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.[1]

Synopsis

Ramabai colony killings

Jai Bhim Comrade begins with a description of the Indian caste system and its oppression of the Dalit community.[2] 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.[2] The documentary then describes the killings; on 11 July 1997 a statue of B. R. Ambedkar in the Dalit 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.[3] The Dalit singer, poet, and activist Vilas Ghogre hanged himself in protest at the incident.[4] 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.[5] 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.[2]

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.[2] The interviews are interspersed with other Dalits describing difficulties and discrimination they face in their lives.[2] This section of the documentary also explores the relationship between the Dalit activist movement. The film describes the complicity of the Shiv Sena in the Ramabai killings, and shows Bal Thackeray at a public rally stating that Muslims need to be exterminated.[1] 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.[1]

Kabir Kala Manch

The second part of the film focuses on contemporary Dalit activism, chiefly the activities of the

Anti-terrorist squad. Several members were forced to go on the run, while others were arrested.[4] The film ends with interviews with the mothers of two of the members of Kabir Kala Manch that had been forced to go underground.[5]

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.[6] The documentary also uses a significant amount of archival footage from Patwardhan's previous documentary Bombay Our City, released in 1985.[5] 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.[7]

Reception and analysis

In a review of the film,

Mark Cousins wrote that the film "is about the Dalit people like Dickens is about London. It’s a Marxist musical 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" and bemoaned the fact that "[m]ost [...] 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." He goes on to suggest the film's complexity and many Westerners' unfamiliarity with the subject matter as possible reasons for it being ignored.[10]

British-Ghanaian writer and filmmaker

Sight & Sound's poll of "The Greatest Documentaries of All Time", as did two other critics (Julia Lesage and Cheuk To-Li).[11]

Awards

Nominations

Docufest Competition, 48th Chicago International Film Festival, 2012.[17]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1111/var.12043
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e Bernier, Catherine (Fall 2013). "Jai Bhim Comrade: tales of oppression and songs of resistance: A visual Essay". Jump Cut (55). Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. ^ The Ramabai killings, Human Rights Watch, retrieved 1 January 2014
  4. ^ a b c d e Between Red And Blue, Outlook India, retrieved 1 January 2014
  5. ^ a b c d Bernier, Catherine (Fall 2013). "Jai Bhim Comrade: tales of oppression and songs of resistance". Jump Cut (55). Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  6. ^ Priyanka Borpujari (28 January 2012). "Arts / Cinema : A film with a difference". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  7. ^ a b Turner, Matt (23 March 2013). "Human Rights Watch: Jai Bhim Comrade Review". Front Row Reviews. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  8. ^ Natarajan, Balmurli (9 February 2013). "Punctuated Solidarities Caste and Left Politics". Economic and Political Weekly. 48 (6).
  9. ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (8 June 2012). "India's uncomfortable truths on film". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  10. ^ Cousins, Mark (September 2012). "Full of Eastern Promise". Sight & Sound: 12–13. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  11. ^ "The Greatest Documentaries of All Time – all the votes | Sight & Sound | BFI". www.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  12. ^ Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film, Festival of South-Asian Documentaries, 2011, Film South Asia, archived from the original on 2 January 2014, retrieved 1 January 2014
  13. ^ Kaur, Puneet (19 January 2014). "Anand Patwardhan's documentary 'Jai Bhim Comrade': Voicing the unheard". DNA. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  14. ^ Golden Firebird Award, Hong Kong International Film Festival, 2012, IMDb, retrieved 1 January 2014
  15. ^ "59th National Film Awards for the Year 2011 Announced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  16. ^ Palmarès / Award-winning films 2012, Jean Rouch Film International Film Festival, retrieved 1 January 2014
  17. ^ "48th Chicago International Film Festival Announces Films in Competition | Chicago DIY Film". Retrieved 8 March 2019.

External links

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