By ASHFAQUE SWAPAN
Special to India-West
The New York-based American Museum for Natural History has
"postponed" scheduled screenings of films by award-winning documentary
filmmaker Anand Patwardhan following complaints by Hindu activists, but critics
are charging that the museum has buckled under threats. The museum denies the
charge.
The museum had originally scheduled to screen In the Name of God and We Are
Not Your Monkeys, two of Anand Patwardhan's films Feb. 9 as part of its exhibit
"Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion" which began from September
last year and is running till March.
In the Name of God has won a Filmfare award as well as India's National award
and has been screened on Doordarshan. The film follows the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's
agitation to demolish the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. We Are Not
Your Monkeys is a short film which is a Dalit critique of the Ramayan.
However, irate Hindus began a letter-writing campaign protesting the screening
of the film, charging that the film defamed Hinduism and was politically motivated.
Supporters of Anand Patwardhan rebutted the criticism by sending in a petition,
which has to date 847 signatures from all over the world including a Dalit association
in Britain and filmmakers Mira Nair and Yasmine Kabir, that urged the museum
to continue with the screenings.
Organized by Bay Area-based South Asian organization Ekta, the petition protested
the museum's decision to postpone the screening.
"We are extremely disappointed about the decision of the museum to reschedule
the screening of Anand Patwardhan's films We are Not Your Monkeys and In the
Name of God originally scheduled for Feb. 9th in the museum, to a venue outside
the museum due to 'threats of violence' and 'capacity' issues," said the
petition.
"We request a well publicized and well protected screening of the above
mentioned films inside the museum premises, at the earliest. We believe that
these films serve a valuable function in fostering public scrutiny and debate
regarding important socio-political issues in India; and therefore deserve to
be screened at the AMNH."
While the museum is now saying that it is not screening the films due to "space
issues," critics are not buying it.
"This is the first instance that I am aware that an institution or group
has actually buckled down to threats of violence, what it appears to me,"
said Berkeley-based activist Raj Barot, who organized Ekta's petition campaign.
"I think they are really trying to cover up."
Museum official Ann Canti conceded to India-West that "there were some
security concerns," but added that "I can't say more about that."
She said that the museum is looking at several outside venues and will screen
the films "sooner rather than later," but she was vague about when
it would happen. She also appeared to seek to distance the Hindu exhibit from
the screenings. "We always try to do companion programming in exhibitions,"
she said. "They are actually separate from the exhibition Meeting God but
they are being presented in conjunction with it, if you will. So it is being
done by a different group of people. It's not part of the exhibit proper."
"We are fairly convinced there was threat of violence," said Akhila
Ramani, a Berkeley-based activist who has also been active in rallying support
for Patwardhan. "Basically they are trying to push the film outside the
premises, which is very upsetting."
Patwardhan has also expressed his displeasure in an e-mail to Barot. "They
are definitely covering up, is my opinion," Patwardhan wrote to Barot.
"They should not be allowed off the hook. They have not had the courtesy
even to let me know that it was 'shifted' after assuring me earlier that the
program would go ahead as planned. Naturally they are embarrassed and want to
hide now behind 'the large crowd' theory."
Museum official Ann Canti said that the main auditorium of the museum is undergoing
renovation, and the other auditoriums are too small. To which Raj Barot retorts:
"Just do it on a first-come-first-served basis." He added the museum
has caved in to the main goal of Patwardhan's critics and censored the valuable
issues raised by the films from the attendees to the exhibit.
Meanwhile, the museum maintains it wants to screen the films. "It's really
our hope that these films go forward," Canti said. "They are postponed
,they are not canceled. We are looking for another venue to do them in."
Interested readers can visit Ekta's Web site at www.ektaonline.org