• Tue 30 05 2017 / 8 pm •
Jai Bhim Comrade Anand Patwardhan

Jai Bhim Comrade, 120‘, India 2012, in English; German Premiere
Ensuing talk with the filmmaker ANAND PATWARDHAN and GERHARD KLAS

One of the key issues for the Old Left in India is the struggle against caste oppression and religious obscurantism, and that is the central topic of Jai Bhim Comrade by renowned Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. It explores the combat of India’s Dalit, abhorred as “untouchables,” denied education and treated as bonded labor for thousands of years. The film departs from an incident at a Dalit colony in Mumbai in 1997, when police opened fire on a crowd of Dalit protesters, killing ten. They had come to demonstrate against the desecration of a statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the leader who had encouraged the former untouchables to abandon Hinduism for Buddhism. In the aftermath, Vilas Ghogre, a leftist poet, hung himself in protest. Jai Bhim Comrade follows the poetry and music of people like Vilas, marking a subaltern tradition of reason that, from the days of the Buddha, has fought superstition and religious bigotry. The film has received numerous awards and can be considered “a capstone to Patwardhan’s extraordinary career” (Guardian).

Venue: Filmpalette, Lübecker Str. 15, 50668 Cologne
6,50 € / 5,50 € reduced
In English

In cooperation with Filmkunstkino Filmpalette and Dokumentarfilminitiative