For well over 2000 years India's Dalits were abhorred as "untouchables" denied an education and treated as bonded labor. By 1923 Bhimrao Ambedkar broke the taboo, won doctorates abroad and returned to India to fight for emancipation of his people. He drafted the Indian Constitution. He led his followers to discard Hinduism for Buddhism. His legend still spreads through poetry and songs.
In 1997 a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Dalit colony in Mumbai was desecrated with a garland of footwear. As angry residents gathers, police opened fire killing 10. Vilas Ghogre, a lefties poet, hung himself in protest.
'Jai Bhim Comrade' shot over 14 years, follows the music and tradition of reason that Vilas had been a part of. Anand Patwardhan has been making investigative documentaries in India for over three decades. His films have often faced State censorship as well as the wrath of religious fundamentalists.
In 1997 a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Dalit colony in Mumbai was desecrated with a garland of footwear. As angry residents gathers, police opened fire killing 10. Vilas Ghogre, a lefties poet, hung himself in protest.
'Jai Bhim Comrade' shot over 14 years, follows the music and tradition of reason that Vilas had been a part of. Anand Patwardhan has been making investigative documentaries in India for over three decades. His films have often faced State censorship as well as the wrath of religious fundamentalists.
