Film Screenings
The World is Family
Anand Patwardhan
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, a Sanskrit phrase meaning “the world is family”, is a universalist idea that competes with dominant, exclusivist Hindu notions of caste. The director of the film, Anand Patwardhan, grew up in a milieu that questioned the latter. The family’s elders had fought for India’s Independence, but had rarely spoken about it. ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’, words enshrined in India’s Constitution, were subconsciously internalised.
As his parents aged, Anand began to film with whatever equipment was at hand. Soon, birthdays and family gatherings gave way to oral history. Revisiting home movie footage a decade after his parents had passed, was a revelation. Today, supremacist ideology has plagued and altered notions of democracy. As they rewrite India’s history, memories of the past and the lessons they present us with have become more precious than mere personal nostalgia.
Join us for a screening of this award-winning documentary followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.
Credits:
– Production, Direction, Editing: Anand Patwardhan
– Camera and Sound: Anand Patwardhan, Simantini Dhuru
– Production Assistance: Simantini Dhuru, Mohosin Shaikh
Bookings
Bookings are closed for this event.
Anand Patwardhan
Director
Anand Patwardhan has been making socio-political documentaries for over five decades pursuing diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India. Many of his films were at one time or another banned by state television channels in India and became the subject of litigation by Anand who successfully challenged the censorship rulings in court.
Anand received a B.A. in English Literature from Bombay University in 1970, won scholarships to get another B.A. in Sociology from Brandeis University in 1972 and a Master’s degree in Communications from McGill University in 1982.
Anand has been an activist ever since he was a student — having participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement; being a volunteer in Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers Union; working in a rural development and education project in central India; in the Bihar anti-corruption movement in 1974-75 and in the civil liberties and democratic rights movement during and after the 1975-77 Emergency. Since then he has been active in movements for housing rights of the urban poor, for communal harmony and participated in movements against unjust, unsustainable development, militarism and nuclear nationalism. He describes himself as “a non-serious human being forced by circumstances to make serious films”.
