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A still from Red Ant Dream |
Like poets and writers, filmmakers, too, have an understanding of life that is without borders or restraint. Human creativity knows no bounds and it would be impertinent of anyone to allege that filmmakers aim at creating mischief through art. Indeed if free thinking is what we wish to promote in a country that professes to be a democracy, then citizens must rally together to guard the artists, writers, poets and filmmakers from moral policemen and state actors whose understanding of the finer aspects of art is limited by their own mental block.
It is unfortunate though that a few groups and individuals assert their rights over domains of life they know and understand very little about. Those who clamour to ban any book have often not even read the volume. Similarly, those who ban films, join the bandwagon of hearsay and gossip without using their intellect to judge the veracity of someone else’s claim.
That is what mob rule is all about and we are, unfortunately, becoming prisoners of mobocracy which attempts to throttle free speech in this country.
There are calls to ban artists, film directors, poets and writers from bringing out work that ostensibly hurts certain sensibilities.
India is such a diverse country that squeamishness from some quarter or the other is bound to result in all manner of expression being challenged by this or that group.
There are politicians who take offence at cartoons instead of learning to laugh at themselves. There are some who assume that we are so infantile that if we watch a violent movie we might get out of the movie hall and start shooting people.
Of course, there are people with mental illness who could be provoked to go round the bend by a film or writing with a strong message but such types do not need a film or prose or poem to shoot someone or shoot themselves.
Their mental state is so fragile that they are capable of doing things at the behest of their own vivid imagination.
There are some deranged types, too, who believe that we could disintegrate as a country if we watch movies that talk of revolutions which challenge state power.
The film Red Ant Dream by Sanjay Kak was scheduled to be screened at the Indie8 film festival and workshop organised by the mass communication department, St Anthony’s College, Shillong. Three days before the festival, the state police asked the film editor, Tarun Bhartiya, based in Shillong, to send them a copy of the film for their “vetting”. The reasons assigned by the police are frivolous. They believe that the film could have an adverse impact on young, impressionable minds.
It is ironical that in a country where the voting age is 18 years and the youth are expected to exercise their political judgement while voting, they cannot be trusted to watch a film that portrays the struggles of the tribes of central, western and eastern India and their attempts to get back their resources by waging a just war.
How else do you respond to a powerful state with the wherewithal to blast and smoke the tribals out of their little hell holes and shoot to kill at the least provocation?
We in the region are familiar with violence and suppression. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is an instrument of subjugation that takes away our dignity as human beings. The legislation allows security forces to physically search us and shoot to kill by labelling us suspects who aid and abet militancy.
They do not even need solid evidence to kill and the AFSPA protects them. That we have lived in this atmosphere where our civil liberties have been suspended for nearly half-a-century reflects our failure to claim the democratic space guaranteed by the Constitution and the intransigence of a military that has turned venal by having to fight and kill its own people.
For filmmakers born in the crucible of an internally raging war by the state on its people in Kashmir, the Maoist-affected areas and Northeast India, the scene is already set. They feel the pangs of bloodshed and violence. They try to tell the stories of cruelty and vice to the larger world through their lenses. They are not making up anything unlike directors of Bollywood thrillers whose protagonists live in a surreal world.
Documentary filmmakers see the world through the eyes of the victims and tell their stories.
They are not there to make blockbusters and spin unreal yarns that draw crowds to the theatre and which become money spinners. Barefoot filmmakers often live frugal lives and make films purely out of passion. Many of them provoke the audience to think and give a call to action that should not be missed.
The three-day film festival and workshop should have been a great opportunity for discussing issues that often remain unspoken and of emotions that are hidden under the demeanour of civility.
Several films were listed to be shown on these three days. Only one was picked for vetting by the police. Is it because the editor of the film is a right to information (RTI) activist?
We cannot but help raise these questions because we live in a constant state of war in this country. I wonder how we are ever a democracy!
Red Ant Dream captures imageries of the Maoist movements that span across large swathes of India. These are mineral-rich lands; they are forest belts which have sustained the tribes for centuries. These lands have been exploited by avaricious mining companies. Red Ant Dream records the struggles of people to assert their rights over their land and resources — the only earthly possession they have which are tied to their lives and cultures and which Indian democracy has failed to secure on their behalf. Similar exploitation of natural resources and a wanton destruction of forests and poisoning of rivers have failed to stir the state to action against these vile offenders. But the state has been quick at curtailing our right to watch a film and to make our own judgement that could provide models of resistance to others who face the same fate.
Films are just one medium of expression. In a democracy there should be enough space to screen films that provoke counterpoints and deconstruct the role of government; films which contest claims of development and question models of progress that disempower communities. If the State asserts control over the mind and intellect then a democratic society has the right to stand up and question this high-handedness. Unfortunately, there is more silence than noise in Meghalaya. This silence is ominous as it portends the loss of liberal spaces through an unholy collusion between state and society. Democracy requires eternal vigilance. We often lose that which we cherish the most when we do not fight the small battles. Films should provoke young minds to question the incursion of the state into the creative domain.
If such films are banned on one pretext or the other, a time will come when the state will take complete control of our lives by citing security reasons. As it is, under the larger canvas of national security, we have today ceded many of our civil liberties to the state.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)