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Renowned Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan is facing obstacles once again with the Indian Censor Board, who are intent on preventing screenings of his latest award-winning documentary "War and Peace" in India. Please sign an online petition
in support of Please remember to check the "Email Address Privacy Option" to "Available to Petition Author"; this will enable the petition author to contact you regarding any future updates with the petition, if required. Your email address will not be used for any other purposes. More on the films of Patwardhan
at: Excerpts from Press Statement,
"War and Peace begins and ends with the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. Focusing on the danger of nuclear war in the Indian subcontinent the video goes on to describe the problems faced by people living near nuclear testing and mining sites, the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the culpability of the USA in using Atom bombs on a nation that was about to surrender, the globalization of the arms trade, but most of all it derives its power and emotional appeal from the growing movement for peace both in India and in Pakistan. Unfortunately in both countries there is an invisible force that does not want peace, a force that has come to power precisely by spreading divisiveness within the country and the sustained threat of war outside it. This force has cynically used concepts of religion and patriotism to hide its own hate-corrupted psyche and has sought to muzzle the voices of all those who speak out for health, harmony and peace. So it will not be enough to demand merely that films like “War and Peace” be passed without cuts. Officials of the Censor Board must be made to understand that their brief cannot be to wield their scissors in the interests of particular ideologies. We must demand that the Censor Board and all the vital institutions in our country be freed from the undemocratic grip of “the invisible force”. Complete text at: Click
here to sign the petition PROTECT FREE SPEECH: To: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
India We, the undersigned, wish to bring to your notice our deep concern about the plight of Anand Patwardhan's award-winning documentary "War and Peace" submitted over a month ago for certification to the Censor Board. We urge you to take speedy measures to release the film to the general public without any further delay. "War and Peace" is a three-hour long documentary that has won several awards, including two major awards at the recently concluded 7th Mumbai International Film Festival, an event organized by the Films Division of India (FDI), a governmental body that falls under your purview. The film's message of peace and religious tolerance acts like a soothing balm in a world today that is deeply fractured by the politics of hatred and violence. In view of the horror in Gujarat and the dangers of nuclear catastrophe, there is an urgent need to build peace both within the country and without. Given the enormous significance of the film in the context, we are indeed astounded that the Censor Board appears to be delaying the film's release instead of taking all possible steps to expedite it and arrange for its widest distribution. While, according to official admission, the film has not been banned, censor board officials have been proactively stopping private screenings of "War and Peace" even in such cases where prior permission was obtained for the screening. For instance the FDI obtained special permission from May 31st in Kolkata to screen award winning films regardless of whether these had censor certificates. The screening was however blocked and the organizers, obviously under pressure from above, insisted that a copy of the film "hadn't arrived", even though a signed receipt disproves their claim. After the examining committee saw the film on June 6, Patwardhan was not given a chance to meet the examiners on the pretext that "there was no consensus" in the group. The following week he was issued a notice to cut many portions of the film. These include the diktat: "Delete the entire sequence with visuals and dialogue spoken by Dalit leader" and "Delete the visuals and dialogues of entire tehelka episode wherever it occurs in the film" and "Delete the entire visuals and dialogues spoken by Political Leaders including the Minister and Prime Minister." These are astonishing demands that cut at the very roots of democracy. Our right to freedom of expression and our right to information are protected under the constitution. We find these actions of the Censor Board to be unbelievable and deeply disturbing. We urge you to take immediate steps to arrange for the speedy release of the film without cuts.
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Censor
Board of India at war
with “WAR AND PEACE” - Press Updates |