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on record
Call
him a rebel, revolutionary, or simply a radical filmmaker, Sanjay Kak does believe in the idea of revolution and in a way propounds the same in his documentary films. Be it his film “Jashn-e-Azadi” on the Kashmir issue or the latest “Red Ant Dream” delving into the Maoist problem, he ditches the conventionally held perception and asks questions that are as discomfiting as relevant. Swimming against the tide, he cares little about objectivity either. If his internationally acclaimed films that have won him awards like the Golden Lotus present an enlightening viewpoint, so does his conversation. Excerpts from one: How do you decide the subject of your films? For the most part of one’s working life, one ends up making films that one can make, for which funding can be raised, and not necessarily the ones one really wants to. It’s only in the past 10 years or so that I’ve been able to properly choose films. The new digital technology — cheaper cameras, desk-top editing — has allowed many filmmakers to go deeper into areas of their interest. Do you have a sketch in mind before starting, or does a film shape up as you go? At times one thing leads to another: In 1997, I was commissioned to make a film about ‘democracy’ in India. It was a simple film which asked what made people keep their faith in democracy when it actually delivered very little to them. It was called “One Weapon” — a translation of the phrase ‘ikko-i hathyar’ that a Dalit peasant in Punjab used to answer my question about why they even turned out to vote. I think all the work that I’ve done since is an attempt to deepen my understanding of those same questions. Many of your films have been about hotbeds of revolution… how difficult is it? “Words on Water”, my film about the anti-dam movement in the Narmada valley, was really about resistance, not revolution, and even “Jashn-e-Azadi”, the film I made on Kashmir, was an attempt to understand the sentiments that underlay the desire for ‘azadi’. I think the most recent film “Red Ant Dream” tries to connect different strands of resistance and understand the appeal of the idea of revolution. Only the part of envisioning is difficult. Once you have been able to sort out ideas, the rest is craft. The task of identifying the situations and images that would best illuminate what you want to say is not onerous. Who are your target audiences? First and foremost, myself; I make films in which I am personally comfortable with every single detail. Nothing is subtracted or added to make concessions to patronising questions like “will a small town audience understand it?” or “will an international audience get it?” The fact that all kinds of audiences will take away something valuable is a reminder that we need not hobble ourselves with ideas of target audiences. What was your reaction when your film Jashn-e-Azadi was not allowed by the ABVP to be screened in Pune? I could hardly have been pleased, but I was not too disturbed either: amused is probably the correct word! The film had been in circulation for more than five years. The ABVP protest, and the meek submission by Symbiosis University before this bullying, meant that an entire three-day programme to discuss issues around Kashmir was called off: my film was only a small part of the event. It only went to prove what “Jashn-e-Azadi” had already demonstrated. There are some people in India who are afraid of an open discussion on Kashmir, and to maintain a silence based on ignorance is critical to their politics. How important is it to voice dissent? Dissent is the essence of democracy. Going against popular sentiment is the duty of the intellectual. Every important idea that we take for granted today began as an unpopular one. Do you recall the early history of women’s rights and feminism or ecology and environmentalism? Or the ideas that led to the end of monarchy? It is important to be cautious and double check your facts when your ideas go against the grain. Does research lead to the birth of a film, or you start doing your homework after deciding a concept? I don’t know if you can really call the process of thinking about something ‘research’. It’s a part of your life, it’s what you’re preoccupied with, and then in some roundabout way you come across a place, or a situation, or an event, and you sense that it has the potential to throw light upon what you have been thinking about. Then you meet these amazing, amazing people whose deep commitment to those ideas helps to negotiate worlds that you don’t really know. Is India ready for your kind of films? I’m not alone. We have a fairly vibrant documentary scene right now with scores of people making all kinds of wonderful films and certainly a very vibrant audience not just in Delhi and Mumbai, but also in Chandigarh and Bathinda and Gorakhpur and dozens of other places. Often your films are rather long… in times when films are becoming shorter. The audience for the feature-length documentaries, some of which are released theatrically in the west, has grown over the years. I think only people addicted to television and the news ‘bite’ are worried about the duration of films anymore. Obviously, if a story can be told in half an hour that’s how long it should be: but if it needs three and a quarter hours, like Anand Patwardhan’s new film “Jai Bhim Comrade”, well, I think there is an audience for it. Why do you often say that objectivity is an overrated virtue? It’s not a generalised philosophy, but a response to the comment that comes — mostly from journalists — about why my films do not give the ‘other’ side a fair place. The other side is the side of the powerful, of the State and the corporates, and their point of view dominates us through the mass media, which they own and control. Why are we not able to persuade them to represent the alternative view which is the point of view of the majority? Every side does not have an appropriate ‘other’ side, that’s something that we seem to have forgotten, in a world where morality is a word we all shy away from. Are you a rebel or a revolutionary? Neither. Just a thinking film-maker,
I hope.
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On one visit to the temple with a female friend, the latter was turned away by the Pandas there, who took her to be a foreigner because of her fair complexion. Non-Hindus, especially visitors from western countries, are not allowed in the temple. But in this case not only did the Pandas turn away an Indian but also humiliated her. For defending her friend, Pratibha too was humiliated. An acutely hurt Pratibha returned home to launch a scathing attack on the irrational practices perpetrated by the priests. And the medium of her attack was the pen. She wrote a moving account of her experience in a leading Oriya newspaper. This caught the attention of the national media and the government. A defamation case was slapped against her. She faced it boldly, and after a long-drawn battle, the case was dismissed. Pratibha’s search for a “social order based on equality, love, peace and integration” continues, despite some critics branding her a ‘communist’. But she says “I am a humanist. Men, women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society”. Pratibha was born on January 21, 1943, at Alabol, a remote village in Cuttack district. She took to the pen early with a role model in her poet-father, the late Parasuram Das, who gave up a lucrative job in the Tata Iron and Steel Company and joined as the first headmaster of Balikuda High School to educate people and help them realise the value of freedom. His fond dream was that Pratibha should become a poet and a doctor. She herself nurtured a dream of becoming a writer, but not a doctor. She left the medical college just after taking admission without informing her father. The bold step she took at that age was beyond imagination. Pratibha was quite young when she married Akshaya Chandra Ray, an engineer. After sending her three children to school, she did her Masters in Education and Ph.D in educational psychology. She believes language may me regional, but literature is universal. “I think all books are left incomplete, as a writer takes the reader into the subject and leaves him to draw his own conclusions,” she says, citing the example of the Geeta. When Gandhi was asked who inspired him to practise non-violence, his answer was “the Geeta”. Nathuram Godse, who killed Gandhi, too was asked who inspired him to kill the Mahatma; his answer was the same — “the Geeta”.
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Established
with a view to integrating hearing and visually impaired children in the mainstream and equipped with modern models, aids and teaching standards, the Society for Welfare of the Handicapped has transformed many a life. Founded by the late Amar Singh Kamboj in 1967, the society is a pioneer in North India in the field of education for children with special needs. It has come a long way from being an academic institute to an institution which realises personal independence, economic self-reliance and social inclusion for special children. The society's first school in North India functioned from a temporary building given by the founder. It moved to its present building at Saifdipur village behind Punjabi University, Patiala, after Balwinder Singh Saifdipur, a resident of Patiala, donated 4,000 square yards of land to the society. In 2005, Prem Puri, an NRI, provided the funds to start construction of the first academic block, and in 2010, Ashok Khosla, from Singapore, gave funds for another block, which was inaugurated in 2011. For the first 15 years, the schools were financially supported by its founder. As the schools became popular, donations started pouring in. The schools still function only on donations received from the public. Under the guidance of Col Karminder Singh (retd), secretary of the society and son of Amar Singh, the society is now running Patiala School for the Blind, Patiala School for the Deaf, and Patiala School for the Deaf-Blind (for children with multiple disabilities).
Holistic growth To date, approximately 900 boys and girls and 400 visually impaired children have passed out from these schools. About 90 students have pursued BA and MA courses with the society's assistance and are gainfully employed. Col Karminder Singh says Patiala School for the Deaf and Patiala School for the Blind run from nursery to class XII. "These schools are co-educational and residential. They have 175 children, of which 45 are visually impaired boys and girls and 130 are hearing impaired. As many as 140 children are staying in the hostel free of cost. Admissions in all schools are on the first come, first served basis, with preference to girls, orphans, and children from poor families," he says. Patiala School of Deaf-Blind is the only such third school in the country and has become popular within two years of its establishment. "While most visually impaired students who have passed from this school are in government jobs, our priority is hearing impaired students as there are no government jobs for them. Jobs are not offered to them in the private sector also. We provide them with vocational training so they can earn their livelihood and live with dignity," he says. The faculty is dedicated and qualified. Proper attention is paid to the overall development of individual personality, personal traits, and qualities of good leadership.
Future plans The society owns over 2 acres, and the school, with 48 class rooms, is built on a carpet area of 36,000 sq ft. The hostel is re-appropriated in the academic block. The society proposes to increase the capacity of the schools to 300 hearing and 150 visually impaired children, and the hostel to 300. It also plans to give one-year diplomas in vocational trades after class XII. Some proposed trades are candle making, tailoring and embroidery, electrician, mobile and automobile repair, carpet weaving, photography and video making, among others. Apart from education, students are trained in various sports disciplines. Recently, deaf students of the school represented Punjab in the All India Games for the Deaf at Aurangabad. They won six gold and two silver medals. These children will represent India in the World Olympics Games to be held in Bulgaria in August 2013.
Hi-tech facilities While Patiala School for the Deaf envisions total communication being used to teach the children using the latest available techniques. The staff is trained in sign language, speech therapy, computers, arts and crafts, sports, extra-curricular activities, etc., the Patiala School for the Blind is the only residential school for visually impaired girls in the state. It has the latest equipment for children, including "Read IT Wand" which can scan a book, newspaper or magazine and read it aloud to the students. The school also has a big library with all facilities and great ambience. The society helps students pursue college degrees after completing class XII. The children are also put through arts, craft and other vocational training capsules. Patiala School for Deaf-Blind is for children with multiple disabilities like visual and hearing impairment. The classrooms are equipped with sophisticated teaching aids and equipment. The school has "PACMATE", which enables students to read books, newspapers and magazines in Braille. There is one teacher and an attendant for every two students.
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Keith Vaz, labour mp of indian origin Sushma Swaraj, senior bjp leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi, senior cong leader Kapil Sibal, law minister S. Sreesanth, cricketer
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D
At last all Indians have a royal connection. As a lost cousin, perhaps Prince William can now kindly bring back the Koh-i-Noor diamond which the rest of his family borrowed many years ago.
Whenever the Opposition got united, the Congress was defeated. The NDA's unity is a historical necessity. We must do everything to keep NDA united.
If Jairam feels Modi is a threat and a challenge, he should resign from the Congress and join the BJP in Gujarat. 
Why shouldn’t there be audio recording of court proceedings? After all, the court is a public place. There may be some objection against video recording.
I don’t want to forget this, but I think it taught me a lot of things. All I can say is that I played the game in true spirit. I always gave my heart and soul for the game.