Pitra, Putra Aur Dharamyuddha

In a politically polarized world, universal ideals are rare. In India, as elsewhere, the vacuum is filled by religious zeal. Minorities are made scapegoats of every calamity as nations subdivide into religious and ethnic zones, each seemingly eager to annihilate the other or extinguish itself on the altar of martyrdom. FATHER, SON AND HOLY WAR explores in two parts the possibility that the psychology of violence against "the other" may lie in male insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of "manhood."

"Father, Son, Holy War" is not the most artfully filmed and skillfully edited documentary one might see, however, what it lacks in mechanics is more than made up in subject matter.

About 6 years ago I entered a screening of this film hosted by the filmmaker completely unaware of the plight of women in India, unaware of the religious conflicts and violent riots between the Hindi majority and the Islamic minority, and utterly ignorant about the cultural foundations in India feeding the subcontinent's unimaginable overpopulation problems.

This documentary gives the viewer an understanding of the belief system at work with both Indian Hindu's and Indian Moslems and some history of the practices that have victimized Indian women. Current day woman rights activists are seen working with secular organizations within India. And this is clearly where the director places hope for the future.

Looking at the overpopulation issue, one part of the film that remains clear in my mind shows the viewer a Muslim leader telling his male followers to never masturbate because their sacred duty is to father as many children as possible so that one future day the Muslim people can become the majority and gain control of political power. We then switch to seeing a Hindu leader telling his followers to have at least seven children so to earn the respect of the community and defend and preserve the heritage of Hindu's in India.

Another interesting subject explored is male aggression and machismo, and how it is supported and encouraged by cultural leaders.

Do Indian leaders use religion and male macho-ism as tools of control? The answer is yes and "Father, Son, Holy War" shows us how.

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan is a Harvard University educated atheist and I am proud to say that I have met him. I hope he continues to make more films.

I recently had the good fortune of being able to see a number of Anand Patwardhan's films at a retrospective of his work in San Francisco. I had heard a lot about his work as one of the most controversial film makers in India. As he puts it, none of his films have been shown in India without a court order. I could see why. He is one of the few film makers from India who has the courage of conviction to take a very hard look at India and its complex social and political problems. Very clearly he is an activist and his films take on the definite bias of his political views.

In Father, Son and The Holy War he examines Indian patriarchy and machismo and the attitudes it generates towards women and minorities in India. He expounds his thesis using various topics ranging from the Deorala Sati incident and the 1993 Bombay riots to the hilarious scene of a street vendor hawking sexual aids. The film is extremely hard hitting and it invokes a profound sense of disquiet. A must see for any one interested in India beyond its exoticised image.

Not may movies can accommodate an analysis and still remain movies. Anand Patwardhan's masterpiece, Father, Son, and the Holy War is an exception. >From the very first shot it start to tell us a story about ourselves. How male insecurities play an important role in developing communalism and how heightened communalism results in violence. The movie does not just give an opinion. It shows us that this is precisely what is happening, at least in one society, that is India. Unfortunately, no society can say it is any different.

The movie is a two hour long story. And since it is not easy for most of us to concentrate on something that actually criticizes us, it is divided into parts. Thus, one can watch the movie in parts. But I suggest one should watch the movie in one go.

The first time I watched this movie was in a documentary film festival that I had myself organized. I did not have the opportunity to preview any of the movies before I could show them to my audience. So, the first time I showed this movie to my friends (over 250 people were sitting in a small auditorium at the American Center), I was clearly as hypnotized by the detailed work done by the director as were my other movie buff friends. Being a movie director myself, the movie instantly resulted in a lot of awe and respect for the director. The first question that came to my mind was: How much footage the director must have collected (shot, too) to select this movie.

My hat off to Patwardhan. He, for sure, is a brilliant director.

The documentary Father Son and Holy War by Anand Patwardhan is a very well balanced and constructed piece of observation. When a person from a specific religion is able to capture and do justice to another religions point of view and hardships much respect should be given to them for the sheer ability to be that open minded. In this piece much subject matter is shown in regards to religion and the violence that can be attributed to it. Also it goes into detail about the process of how and when gender roles are defined and aid religion in oppressing women and other religions. The only large amount of bias in this film is that of pro-feminism which is not a bad fact at all, in truth it probably makes the film more effective by giving the results of throwing gender roles into religion and culture.

When riots struck India there were two sides that were indeed hurt by the violence. Anand Patwardhan does an excellent job of pointing the finger at gender roles and the extremists on either side of the conflict. When assemblies are shown he captures the same atmosphere and feeling from both camps. He captures very emphatic speeches that really show the detrimental attitude both side propagate. By using similar shots to build his case Anand develops an unbiased case. The plight concerning India is really brought out when we see what propaganda makes the violence tick.

Even when accusing machismo of destroying society a well constructed argument is used. Anand prevents his documentary from slinging mud, but instead goes right to the source of the problem. By showing the roots of male domination, whether it be through Sati, promoting male virility, promoting male birth or subjecting women to subordinate roles evidence of inequality is inlaid in the culture. However Anand does not leave this dilemma without its heroes. He does show women's resistance and civil rights group making steps against unequal treatment of women in India. By referring to so many sources of societal influence one gets an idea of the size and difficulty of separating tradition from progress.