Jai Bhim Comrade [2011]

 Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade remains political filmmaking at its most elemental – fearless, angry, uncompromising, rebellious, carrying a fiercely subaltern lens, and rejecting the idea of “art for art’s sake” – and a brutally unflinching examination of Dalit experience in India. Heroically and expansively filmed over 14 long years – its runtime of nearly 3 hours remains 2^nd only to Vivek in his filmography – it began with footage of the Dalit-Marxist poet-singer Vilas Ghogre from Patwardhan’s exceptional film Hamara Shahar from 12 years back, and whose tragic suicide in 1997 triggered this work. His self-annihilation was driven by extreme disillusionment – or was it a final act of protest? – upon the murder of a dozen Dalit residents of Mumbai’s Ramabai colony by the police, the zealous agents of a violently casteist society and state. Thereon, it branched into four intimately interrelated branches – a deeply personal memorialization of the Ambedkerite activist’s life-long resistance; an investigative reportage, over the following 1 ½ decades, into the brazen killings, the sham probe and mockery of justice that followed, and the despair that it left in its wake; an extension into other Dalit activists and artists – in particular, the dissident cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch that performed anti-caste street theatre and songs, and the firebrand speaker and Dalit Panthers co-founder Bhai Sangare –; and documentation of the systemic oppression, caste atrocities and otherization that continues unabated, perpetuated by a majoritarian social order, right-wing political factions, and a proudly bigoted middle-class. Filmed in unvarnished visuals using portable video cameras, the weaving in of incendiary revolutionary music into its epic length – which reminded me of Barbara Kopple’s similarly courageous Harlan County, USA – remains its most electrifying and enduring aspect.

Director: Anand Patwardhan

Genre: Documentary/Investigative Reportage/Political Documentary/Essay Film/Musical

Language: Marathi/Hindi/English

Country: India