In Memory of Friends
Anand Patwardhan
Canada, 1990
English
60 minutes

Director: Anand Patwardhan

In Memory of Friends documents the violence and terror in Punjab during the late 1980s. India - a land torn apart by religious fundamentalists and a repressive government.

After examining the political turmoil of the late 1970s and rise of Sikh fundamentalism the film concentrates on the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a young socialist hanged by the British in 1931 at the age of 23, Singh has since become a legendary figure. Todaythe State eulogizes him as a nationalist while Sikh separatists portray him as a Sikh militant. In fact, Singh was neither. Just prior to his death he wrote a book which he entitled Why I Am an Atheist.

A band of brave Sikhs and Hindus carry Bhagat Singh's secular legacy from village to village. In the religiously charged countryside ideas of internationalism now carry a price.

In Memory of Friends is an incisive look at identity politics in India during the late 1980s.

Director’s Bio

Anand Patwardhan has been making political documentaries for nearly three decades pursuing diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India. Many of his films were at one time or another banned by state television channels in India and became the subject of litigation by Patwardhan who successfully challenged the censorship rulings in court.

Patwardhan received a B.A. in English Literature from Bombay University in 1970, was awarded a scholarship form Brandeis University to pursue a B.A. in Sociology in 1972 and earned a Master's degree in Communications from McGill University, Montreal in 1982.

Patwardhan has been an activist ever since he was a student -- having participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement; being a volunteer in Caesar Chavez's United Farm Worker's Union; working in Kishore Bharati, a rural development and education project in central India;  and participating in the Bihar anti-corruption movement in 1974-75 and in the civil liberties and democratic rights movement during and after the 1975-77 Emergency. Since then he has been active in movements for housing rights of the urban poor, for communal harmony and participated in movements against unjust, unsustainable development, militarism and nuclear nationalism.