Siddan, Chandra

Chandra Siddan

A celebration of love: an interview with Anand Patwardhan

13 August 2011Feature Anand Patwardhan and Chandra Siddan

In June 2002 the Indian Censor Board demanded unprecedented cuts to a homegrown documentary film. They included deleting all scenes and audio which depict "leaders" and a sequence in which a Dalitneo-Buddhist argues that it is a travesty that nuclear tests were carried out on Buddha's birthday. Chandra Siddan interviewed radical filmmaker Anand Patwardhan.

The following interview was conducted with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, who recently produced War and Peace - a three-hour film of epic proportions about the state of affairs in Pakistan and India. We spoke in Toronto during the Hot-docs Film Festival after the showing of his film.

CS: Anand, do you call your self a Gandhian? I am going by what I saw in War and Peace where you trace your relationship to Gandhi through your uncles and other Gandhians in the…

Anand Patwardhan (dir), 'War and Peace / Jang Aur Aman'

1 September 2002Review Chandra Siddan

2002; running time 170 mins

War and Peace addresses the prime question of the moment, something which has been shaping itself threateningly into a mushroom cloud over South Asia during the past few months (or should we say decades - see the interview with Anand Patwardhan on p22-23 of this issue).

Patwardhan's three hour long film is epic in its scale through its rich collage of small voices from four different countries -- India, Pakistan, US and Japan. Despite fears to the contrary, the film turned…