RELIGION AND POLITICS: REPRESENTATION IN INDEPENDENT INDIAN DOCUMENTARIES

Abstract

Among the most prominent threats to the secular and pluralistic fabric of India have been religious or caste fundamentalism and communal differences. Today, most of the chaos and disharmony the country is facing can be credited to the power-play of religion, vote and politics. The situation becomes more deplorable when humans are killed and assaulted, rapes are given communal colour, voices of dissent are suppressed, patriotism is questioned, and unity is disturbed—all in the name of religion, caste and community. This scenario has well been discussed in recent times on various media platforms. Arts and media have in their own way represented religion and related issues in myriad ways. Movies like Garam Hava, Tamas, Firaq had effectively depicted the tragedy and aftermath of communal tensions in situations like the Partition or Gujarat riots. However, what has remained mostly unexplored is the domain of documentaries in representing such sensitive issues. Since this form of cinema is direct, reality oriented, mostly informative or investigative and provides a valuable record for history, it provides an important sphere of research to find answers to certain subjects. Documentaries by independent film makers have keenly focussed on details of religious upheavals and dived into psychology and power-play behind such incidents. These have also explored the impact of identity politics on human relations. The paper uses qualitative analyses to study select documentaries dealing with important communal events in the country in the past and explores their relevance in today’s India. Even after decades of development, the study aims to find, that if the mentality about religion, caste and the political play has remained the same in the country and explore the reasons for it.