PROTECT FREE SPEECH AND OUR
RIGHT TO INFORMATION: FILMMAKER PATWARDHAN'S
"WAR AND PEACE"
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.
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Excerpts from Press Statement,
Anand Patwardhan, 14 June 2002
"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:
http://patwardhan.ektaonline.org/press/061402.htm
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PROTECT FREE SPEECH:
FILMMAKER PATWARDHAN'S "WAR AND PEACE"
To: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
India
Re: PROTECT FREE SPEECH: FILMMAKER PATWARDHAN'S "WAR AND PEACE"
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.
Sincerely,
The
Undersigned
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