Anand Patwardhan toils with 'War and Peace'

The second day of the DigitAll Movement (DAM) began with the screening of an edited version of reputed activist and filmmaker Anand Patwardhan’s award-winning documentary War and Peace. The film War and Peace unveils the reality behind the façade created by common concepts of democracy and nuclear nationalism. It goes on to delve deeper into the Arms’ race that has been steadily gaining pace since India and Pakistan conducted their first nuclear tests back-to-back in 1998. War and Peace considers how the pseudo arms race is a front for a strong military-industrial complex.

The movie containing exclusive footage from nuclear power States that include India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States of America is an impressive and successful attempt to showcase the aftermath and repercussions of war, proliferation of weaponry and the dangers involving abuse of nuclear energy. The controversy that arose from the blatant accusations leveled against the government, political parties and the people in power caused the film to go through tedious rounds of court appeals and cases so that it could receive permission to be broadcasted on Doordarshan.

Discussing the film in an interactive session after the screening of the film, Mr. Anand Patwardhan said, “The film is extremely complex; not by any conscious attempt, but because of the sheer nature of the subject. Covering reality requires the movie to be complex”. Mr. Patwardhan believes that the development paradigm among people in our coutry keeps shifting according to their ideologies. Some believe that science and technological development are the ultimate yardsticks of a country’s progress and its citizens’ standards of living. But it is alarming to note that the part of our populace that considers nuclear strength and armaments as the only note-worthy sign of a progressive and powerful country is slowly but steadily on the rise.

- Vinaya Gopaal

Day 1: Fun at DAM!

With the seminars having come to a highly successful end, the crowd spilled out from the auditorium onto our fair campus, most of them looking unsure about what to do next. But there was hope! An on-the-spot mobile movie making contest saw 9 teams fan out across the campus, shooting anybody and anything their imaginations took fancy to. In the meantime, a hapless aspirant or two ran around looking for the right clothes to wear. Mr. Narendra Modi’s visit found the auditorium inadequate to accommodate his fans and at another end of the campus, Claymation’s Mr. Vinayak of Frameboxx fame modeled characters from the ‘Mahabharata’, holding the undivided attention of the 50-odd DAM participants.
All this, while RIO and the Khatta Gola proved to be quite the hit on the 1st afternoon of DAM!

- Arindam Mohanty

Gaurav Jani is ‘Riding Solo to the Top of the World’

As part of the events on Day 1 of the DigitAll Movement 2009, the journey of Gaurav Jani and his one-man film unit chronicled in the documentary film Riding Solo to the Top of the World was screened for the public at 6.30 pm. The movie produced by DirtTrack Productions is an over view of Gaurav Jani’s bike trip from Delhi to the Changthang Plateau in the Karakoram Range, from where he takes off on a ride of spiritual revelation to Chemur. This solo adventure of Gaurav Jani that becomes a universal experience of celebration and self-recognition was captured by himself in his Panasonic DVX 100.
As the entire movie was directed and shot by Mr. Gaurav Jani himself, which in itself is one of the prime highlights of the film, camera-handling and diverse technical settings were restricted. Most of the shots used to show the bike ride were still camera images and long shots. Mr. Jani’s interaction with the Changpas of the Changthan area, which he described as the “Cathedral of Silence” in his film, and his rather special interaction with the Changpa Sehwang has also been discretely portrayed. “An experience recommended to all”, said Gaurav Jani during the interactive session that took place after the screening.
“A good while after working as the Assistant Director for Ram Gopal Varma in the movie Jungle, I started considering co-joining two of my fondest passions of biking and filmmaking to create a video that was one of a kind”, remarked Gaurav Jani.
Mr. Jani’s next film “One Crazy Ride” is also a bike adventure of a group of five, travelling through the most rugged and difficult roads to the hidden, unknown parts of India.

- Vinaya Gopaal

DAM Fest Open: 2nd International DigitAll Movement begins at SIMC

The lush 300-acre campus at Symbiosis Knowledge Village in Lavale witnessed the inaugural ceremony of the 2nd international digital entertainment festival. Organized by the students of Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, DigitAll Movement (DAM 09) which began today will culminate with a red carpet ceremony three days hence.

Filmmaker Kunaal Roy Kapur (The President is Coming) declared the 3-day fest open with the clapperboard. Talking about the nascent stage of digital filmmaking in India, Kapur said that going digital is the way ahead for future generations. He highlighted the strengths offered by the digital medium in terms of creative liberty, usability and economic viability.

Advocating the use of new media for film promotion and distribution was Rajjat Barjatya, the young enterprising scion of Rajshri Media. “The online revolution has benefited content providers, producers, exhibitors and consumers in a huge way,” he said. Barjatya is credited with the release of Vivaah, both online and in cinemas, simultaneously.

Dibaker Banerjee – who was an obvious hit with the crowd with popular favourites like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye in his kitty – spoke passionately about the potential of the digital medium. He however insisted that that the cost effectiveness of the medium should not result in trivial content production. “Use digital technology to make a unique production,” he said.

The occasion lent itself to elicit some nostalgic moments when Monika Shergill, creative director of Star One and Yash Patnaik, CEO of Beyond Dreams Entertainment Ltd. – SIMC alumnus from the 1996 batch – were awarded with the Star Alumni Award.