Week 11 - Samyuktha Rao

Before watching "Reason" by Anand Patwardhan, I have also watched his other documentary named "Ram ke naam" in my first year of university which shook me and introduced me to the alrernative perspective regarding majoritarian politics. Reason is situaited in current political scenario and was equally horrifying as that of Ram ke Naam. The killings of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare was truly shocking as there were little or zero coverage about it. The whole episode had caused a a further sense of discomfort given the already known murders of Gauri Lankesh and now the latest, arrest of Anand Teltumbde. The direct involvement of Sanathan organization has received almost no backlaksh and now, the newer illegal actions are being taken under the disguise of draconian UAPA. The documentary's depiction of atrocities on dalits also gave a much clear insight. However, few scenes were reassuring too and showed that the dalit movement is now taking place with full force than ever.The speech of dalit leader motivating people to not carry cow carcasses reminded me of the book "Joothan" and how a revolution is now taking place as a solution to the atrocities and inhumane work which the dalits are still expected to carry out. The documentary also spoke about few right wing icons like Shivaji and how the image is being manipulated to suit the communal agenda. Similar aspect of this was also shown in "Ram ke naam" where bal thackeray himself resorted to a lot of hate speech against muslims and garnered support. Unfortunately, not many are known of this dark side. In overall, visual story telling has a poweful impact and documentaries like these have to be encouraged and brought to the attention of the masses. 

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