Patwardhan, Anand

Patwardhan, Anand

Anand Patwardhan

13 August 2011Feature

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…