90. Girish N

Abstract 90
Girish N   

Abstract 1

Dissent in the documentary films of Anand Patawardhan

Abstract

Dissent is the quintessence of democracy. Anand Patwardhan’s documentaries have been carrying forward the act of dissent by raising diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India.  In this paper I’d like to analyze two documentaries made by him; ‘Father, Son, and Holy War’ and ‘War and Peace’ which were at one time or another banned by state television channels in India.  ‘War and Peace’, filmed over 3 years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the U.S is an epic journey of peace activism in the face of religious fanaticism, militarism and war. It examines the militarization of India and Pakistan, and analyzes the human cost that is extracted from its citizens in the name of National Security. ‘Father, Son, and Holy War’ brings forth minorities as scapegoats of every calamity as nations subdivide into religious and ethnic zones, each seemingly eager to annihilate the others, or to extinguish itself on the altar of martyrdom.  In this documentary Anand Patwardhan asks if the root of India's recent bloodshed - perhaps all bloodshed - lie in male insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of 'manhood? I’d also like to locate these two documentaries in their political, cultural and aesthetic modes of production.

 Abstract 2

Conflicting identities in The Reluctant Fundamentalist

This paper attempts to unravel the conflict of identity faced by Changez, the protagonist of ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid.  Changez, a Pakistani, a Princeton graduate, working for Underwood Samson, seduced by the success of western capitalism faces conflict with his allegiance to his homeland after the 9/11 attack on  the world trade center by Islamic fundamentalists.  He judges the American ideals of individualism and economic progress as less important and realizes that he is not only an individual but also a part of a nation and ethnicity.  He becomes increasingly disillusioned with his western life, becomes a casualty of mistrust that America radiates for the people of different cultural connection and   leaves America for Pakistan.   For Changez, the conflict in his identity is located in the way he is represented in the post-9/11 world based on his appearance, how he is constructed as a potential terrorist figure by American media, and how he frames his understanding of American society as exclusionary and fundamentalist. All of these factors impact on his self-understanding as he is torn between his loyalties to Pakistan and his life in the US.