Indian Dissonance: The ‘Modi International Film Festival’ and the Emerging ‘Hindu Rashtra’
- While the festival had films on a wide range of issues, films critical of the government or the country were conspicuously missing.
Every two years I attend the Mumbai International Film Festival, popularly known as MIFF. It is the largest and oldest documentary, short film, and animation film festival in Asia. It is organized by NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), an entity run and funded by the Government of India.
Divided into National and International categories, a wide range of films on varied subjects are screened, followed by panel discussions, Q&As, and awards with hefty cash prizes.
This year an Indian film titled “The Golden Thread,” won the Best Film in the International Category.
I was there in June with my latest film “Colonel Kalsi.” This was my third time at this festival as a participant, and the overall quality of everything was at an all-time low.
I was a student when I first attended this festival and have fond memories of making the trip to the big bad city of Bombay in 1991, from Hyderabad, my smaller hometown down south.
This is where I was first exposed to the potential of documentary filmmaking, beyond the government-sanctioned PSAs and the early agricultural development films on state-run TV, that both passed for documentaries. Many in India still think documentary films are what the Films Division used to make for the sole purpose of disseminating the government’s agenda.
Anything organized by the Indian government comes with a certain level of dysfunction, due to its bureaucratic nature, but things this time around had truly plummeted. Everything from communication with the organizers, to hospitality to even the design of ID badges, brochures, and mementos was shoddy.
The festival filmmakers were pushed to the background. The honorary guests were lesser-known Bollywood actors who were invited to walk the red carpet and grab some much-needed spotlight for Instagram and the rest.
A month-long election had just ended. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was back in the driving seat with a little less thunder this time, as they needed the help of two other parties to form a government. They had only secured 36% of the popular vote. Despite huge losses, Narendra Modi was given another five years to add to his decade in power and to shape the country.
The last time I was here in 2018, the festival was organized by the Films Division.
In 2020 India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced a merger of four of its film media units, Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives, and Children’s Film Society, into the single National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).
This was a highly unpopular move and was rammed through by the Modi government, despite strong protests from the film community. Some officials working at the festival this year acknowledged that things had gotten worse since that happened. They said the reason things were better last time was because the Films Division had a bigger budget to deliver quality.
While the festival had films on a wide range of issues, films critical of the government or the country were conspicuously missing. The last time I was here there were several films on Kashmir by Kashmiri filmmakers highlighting their struggles. Not this time.
Anand Patwardhan, the preeminent documentary filmmaker of India and a vocal critic of the present government posted on his Facebook, that this is not Mumbai but Modi International Film Festival. His new film “The World is My Family,” which has won accolades all over the world was not in the lineup.
Road Trip
My visit to India this time also took me to Pune for a couple of days. On my road journey there from Mumbai, we crossed an impressive expressway called Atal Setu. This 21-kilometer toll highway spanning across the sea, cut our travel time significantly. It is an example of the infrastructure revolution the BJP government has delivered to the nation over the decade.
As our car joined the line at a toll booth I noticed a massive hoarding of disembodied heads of politicians from Modi down to the local council member next to an image of “Ram Lalla”, the deity installed in the controversial new temple inaugurated by the Prime Minister this year before the elections.
These hoardings are ubiquitous all around India. From small villages in the interiors to the big cities, they garishly announce who is in charge in the neighborhood.
The regional state of Maharashtra is ruled by the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultra-nationalist political party founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray. A saffron-clad ideologue who was the de-facto mayor of Mumbai and the power to reckon with if you wanted to succeed in business, politics, or movies.
Maharashtra is also the land of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological backbone of the BJP of which the Prime Minister is a member and where he started his career as an organizer.
The members of the RSS, a Hindu Nationalist organization that has advocated for Hindu supremacy since its founding, plotted and assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. They have been banned in the country multiple times in history, but have had a resurgence in the past decade.
In recent years, they have tried to soften their image to appeal to a wider audience, however, making India a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu Nation, remains their core mission
Those who want the nation changed along majoritarian lines have seen the rise of Narendra Modi as an indication of where the nation is heading. The unwavering support he garners from his supporters, who are referred to as “Bhakts” or devotees by his detractors, is driven by a range of conspiracy theories, myths, and talking points that run deep. Every individual or group has talking points arising from their personal biases and motivations. What unites them is their vision of a country driven by religious allegiance
Here are some that I have been able to condense from listening to well-informed experts on YouTube and uncles, aunts, grandpas, and friends in the WhatsApp expanse.
- There once existed a “Hindu Utopia”, a golden age, where Hindus lived a glorious life and the idea of Dharma was the foundation of a supreme civilization. The concept of Sanatana Dharma was at its core.
- India’s history needs a rewrite keeping Hinduism and Hindu aspirations as its central framework.
- Hindus are indigenous people of this land. They did not come from elsewhere as the Aryan Invasion theory suggests.
- There is no such thing as the Dravidian race. This is a Western creation.
- Muslims invaded this land and destroyed temples. Aurangzeb was the worst of the lot. These temples need to be reclaimed and history needs to be re-litigated and set right.
- Muslims are procreating at a high rate and pouring over the borders. Their goal is to become the majority. Therefore they need to be put in their place. This is the land of the Hindus first and foremost. The conversion of Hindus to Muslims or any other religion needs to be curtailed by law.
- Hinduphobia is real. It is all pervasive in Western media and discourse about India and Hinduism, and this must be fought. This is an existential threat of our times.
- There are Hindus who are also traitors to their religion and are part of the Hinduphobia brigade, who must be confronted. They are mostly atheists/rationalists/secularists.
- Genocide was committed in Kashmir against the Hindu Pandits.
- Mythology is history. Ram was real as was Hanuman. And men in turbans and flowing garb are the new “intellectual” historians..
- Scholars such as Wendy Doniger, and Romila Thapar and writers such as Arundathi Roy need to be canceled. They are part of the Nehruvian left-leaning Marxist gang who are hell-bent on erasing the true Hindu identity of India.
- RSS is a misunderstood organization. Golwalkar, Savarkar, and Godse are national heroes who deserve their due status in Indian history. They have been maligned by the Congress party and its proxies.
- Gandhi deserved to be assassinated, as it was he who anointed Nehru and caused the partition of India by appeasing Muslims. He was a traitor.
- Subhash Chandra Bose could have overthrown the British by shaking hands with the Fascists if not for Gandhi’s non-violent movement. Gandhi prevented Bose from succeeding.
- Narendra Modi is the redeemer of the Hindu faith. His building of the temple sends a clear message to the world, that the Hindu pride has awakened and shall never be subdued or extinguished.
- Reclaiming and resurrecting destroyed temples by any means necessary is a nation-building project.
- Hindu temples need to be wrested from government control. Just like the Churches and Mosques, they need to be administered by an independent Hindu religious authority.
- Jai Shree Ram is the national war cry that embodies glory and signifies the rise of India economically, politically and also civilizationally.
- Hindus are the real victims.
So on and so forth……
No events or occasions remain untouched by this agenda, even one that celebrates documentary and short films that attempt to document the reality around us.
The closing ceremony of the film festival was held at the prestigious NCPA auditorium in Mumbai.
The event started two hours late, as the chief guest, a minister, was held up.
About twenty minutes into the event, the audience was asked to rise for the national anthem. Then someone shouted “Bharat Maata Ki ” and the whole auditorium responded in unison “Jai.”
The minister then gave a speech which had little to do with films, but more to do with politics of the land, along with religion-laced propaganda of the BJP variety.
The date coincided with International Yoga Day, therefore everyone was subjected to a ten-minute PSA on the large screen on the stage with the Prime Minister on a yoga mat doing his thing.
While entering the auditorium I noticed a buffet being set up. I knew my film had no chance of winning a trophy, and I thought to myself, a wholesome meal will be a satisfying end to the evening.
As we exited the auditorium distraught by the circus we had witnessed, I approached the table to get a plate to serve myself. The man in charge asked me to present my invitation card, in case I was a party crasher.
Mine did not have a yellow back. The delicious food before me was out of bounds. I was not a VIP.
Traveling back home, following the news from afar, and listening to friends and colleagues, it is clear that there has been a steady shift in the discourse surrounding what India should look like for the future.
There is a clear divide between those who would like to see it remain “secular” and those who would like it to become a “Hindu Rashtra.”
Anand Kamalakar is a Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker. His latest film “Colonel Kalsi: Beyond the Call” (www.colonelkalsifilm.com) premiered at the 2023 New York Indian Film Festival. His last film “Salam – The First * Nobel Laureate” has screened in over 30 cities around the world and has won several international awards. It can be streamed on AppleTV, GoogleTV, and Kanopy.