Why Anand returned his National award

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker demands Indian government’s resignation

The recent wave of extremism and intolerance triggered by Shiv Sena, the ruling party in Maharashtra, has raised eyebrows in the Indian civil society. While writers stood against the beef ban in the country, actors such as Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah spoke against the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai. As a result of growing radicalism, various notables returned their national awards and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan is among them.

He opened up about the reason for giving away his award in a heartfelt write-up published on Scroll.in. “National awards have always meant a lot to me. They were more precious than international awards and awards from private institutions … precisely, they represented those rare moments when the government of India became willing to uphold the spirit of our secular, socialist and democratic constitution,” he wrote.

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However, in his eyes that spirit is evaporating and the India he grew up in is no more. “On one side is the secular path that our freedom fighters laid out for us and on the other, the path towards majoritarian fascism that the present regime seems bent upon. I am not saying we are already a fascist state. I am saying that the early warning signs are unmistakable,” elaborated Patwardhan.

He believes it is the duty of all citizens to speak out before it’s too late. The filmmaker cited the example of the Film and Television Institute of India students, who went on strike after the government attempted to foist unqualified saffron administrators on the institution. The strike lasted an unprecedented four months, forcing people to realise that India is treading on a dangerous path.



“The killing of rationalists, the hounding of whistleblowers such as Teesta Setalvad and Sanjiv Bhatt, the denial of justice to victims of religious pogroms and caste-based massacres, the emboldening of the religio-lunatic fringe and the impunity of those who kill or advocate killing in the name of religion is accompanied by the wholesale rewriting of history, the denial of scientific enquiry and the consequent production of a generation of dumbed down consumers for whom having an enemy to hate replaces the thirst for knowledge,” he went on to write.

“So, it is with a heavy heart I am returning my very first National award for Bombay Our City. Back in 1985, even as we won this award, the homes of people I had filmed were demolished. I did not go to receive the award. Instead, Vimal Dinkar Hedau, whose home in Bandra had just been demolished, went to Delhi to receive this award and distributed leaflets about the cause of the homeless. The prize money went to the slum-dwellers’ movement. Today, I am returning the medal,” he wrote.

“What do we want from this government? Not much … just its resignation. Will that happen any time soon? Not likely. What do we want from the people of India? Not much … just eternal vigilance.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2015.

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