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"A scathing exposé of India's forgotten people." – SBS
Mumbai, 1997. A statue of Dr BR Ambedkar, champion of India's Dalit, or "untouchables", is defaced. This sparks riots that are murderously quashed by police, as well as a protest suicide by activist and poet Vilas Ghogre. This documentary traces the ongoing struggle through the poetry and music of Ghogre as it explores a centuries-old conflict drawn along caste lines.
Director Anand Patwardhan is one of India's – and the world's – most respected masters of documentary filmmaking, with his body of work representing an unprecedented achievement of the form. Engrossing and epic in scope as it maps the history of India's entrenched class system, his multi-award-winning Jai Bhim Comrade shines a light on the lives of people denied everything, forced to live in a world of scorn and prejudice.
"Patwardhan's most consistent cinematic signature is the song … Jai Bhim Comrade, indeed, is propelled and narrated through songs. It is a documentary in the form of a musical that reflects upon cinema's power to commemorate the mnemonic power of song." – Tate Modern
Anand Patwardhan is a festival guest.