[Reader-list] Fwd: Final Solution revisited: An appeal from Rakesh Sharma

[Anivar Aravind]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Final Solution revisited: An appeal from Rakesh Sharma
Date: 	Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:50:35 +0530
From: 	Rakesh Sharma <rakeshfilm at gmail.com>




*Many people responded to the first mail with queries. This new, revised
mailer incorporates the answers. Please forward this appeal to other
like-minded institutions, organisations and individuals as well. *



Over the last couple of years, some of you have spoken to me about
revisiting Final Solution and making a new film – /*Gujarat*//*: 5 years
after the carnage*/. You'd be happy to know that I have been filming in
Gujarat for the last several months for the follow-up film. The filming
has been done in Modasa, Idar, Kalol, Halol, Godhra, Lunawada, Baroda,
Chhota Udepur, Himmatnagar, Ahmedabad, Limdi, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Rajkot
etc. We've already done a bulk of our filming, though we plan to
continue filming till the election results are announced and the new
Assembly is sworn in.



We hope to offer a comprehensive film sometime next year. However, all
of us in the team also feel that we must release at least a short
version of the film /pre-elections/ to enable activists, NGOs and others
to intervene during the electoral process by holding screenings and
discussions.



We aim to finish these in mid October and make them available on VCD.
These early versions would be available only in Gujarati as they are
most likely to be used in Gujarat during November 2007.



I write to you to seek your assistance. While I have so far managed all
the filming and editing related expenses personally (thanks to a grant
from the Singh Foundation and damages received from NYPD!), I'm now
seeking completion funds to be able to release the version in October.
Broadly speaking, we propose the following:



a.   To approach a broad network of individuals and like-minded
organisations and individuals for funding assistance.

b.   To invite contributions not exceeding Rs 10,000 from a single
organization and Rs 5,000 from an individual.

c.   Against the contribution, the individual/ organisation will get a
credit in the film. The title would normally read - " */Funding support
from/*" followed by the full list.

d.   The individual/ organisation will also get VCD copies of the film
against this contribution. The proposal is to offer

* Contribution (individuals only): Rs 2000; VCDs offered: 21

* Contribution (organizations/ individuals): Rs 5000; VCDs offered:51

* Contribution (organizations only): Rs 10000; VCDs offered: 120



Cheques (Indian and non-Indian) should be made payable at Mumbai to
Rakesh Sharma. Send us an email to get the exact mailing address for
sending your cheques.



We hope that these multiple copies would be distributed by the concerned
organisation/ individual free to their activists, friends and colleagues
so they can be circulated and screened widely, especially in Gujarat
before the forthcoming elections. The VCDs offered are total number of
discs - the first film is on 2 VCDs while the farmer film is on a single
VCD (ie, each set is 3 VCDs).



  As the offer is to distribute/ circulate the copies only in Gujarat, do
let me know where in Gujarat to send the VCDs of the new film once it is
ready. For those who do not have any direct connections in Gujarat, the
option is to donate the copies to an activist organisation like Anhad
for their ongoing campaigns or one of the grassroots groups helping me
film in Gujarat. We will send the VCDs directly to one of the groups on
your behalf. We propose to have these VCDs become a part of the
Pirate-and-Circulate campaign in Gujarat
(Get-a-copy-free-if-you-promise-to-pirate-and-distribute-5-free-copies!).
We tried this strategy successfully in 2004 with Final Solution - I urge
you to support this piracy!



I request you to lend your support to the films under production.
Details about the proposed films are enclosed below. Please write to me
personally at the earliest ( rakeshfilm at gmail.com
<mailto:rakeshfilm at gmail.com> or PO Box 12023, Azad Nagar, Mumbai
400053). Please forward the mailer to your mailing list. I am hoping
you'd persuade many others to support the film!



With Gratitude


Rakesh Sharma


website: www.rakeshfilm.com <http://www.rakeshfilm.com/>
blog: rakeshindia.blogspot.com <http://rakeshindia.blogspot.com/>



ps: Please do not circulate to the Press - we'd like no speculation or
publicity till the films are formally released.



We are aiming to finish only a version in end October – the Gujarati
version (no English subtitles). Please note that this offer is for the
circulation/ screening of VCDs of this version in Gujarat only – we
wouldn't be mailing any VCDs to anyone outside Gujarat. Post-elections,
when we actually do a final version of Final Solution revisited, we will
make it available on DVD with English subtitles etc sometime in mid 2008.



The films currently being edited for an October release deal broadly
with the following:

* *

*After the Storm: *



Five years after the carnage, what is the state of Relief and
Rehabilitation? The Supreme Court's intervention in carnage-related
cases has dominated media headlines, but what really is the true story
behind the victims' quest for Justice? Away from major cases like the
Naroda Patiya massacre or Gulberg or Best Bakery and Pandarwada, what is
the fate of other FIRs and court cases filed by the victims?



The film goes beyond highlighting the plight of the Muslim community in
Gujarat. It probes other dimensions of the issue by specifically looking
at the patterns of arrests and litigation. A majority of those charged
with rioting, arson, murder etc are either tribals or Dalits and OBCs.
An analysis of those arrested from 32 police stations in Ahmedabad
suggests that of the 1577 detainees, only 30-odd were upper caste! Are
these footsoldiers victims too? Cynically recruited, then discarded,
left to rot in jails, what do the 'perpetrators of the violence feel
today about the VHP and the BJP?



The film is likely to be in two parts of approximately an hour each,
both complete in themselves (to enable a separate showing of just one
part, if necessary) and may possibly be split into two films.



*Seeds of Sorrow:*



Though the BJP romped home with a brute majority in the 2002 assembly
elections, it suffered an electoral reverse during the 2004 Lok Sabha
elections. The BJP managed to get 14 seats while the Congress won the
other 12. The result is attributed in part to agitations by the Sangh's
own Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, which was then agitating against the power
tariff hike. In many pockets, it even asked its members to abstain from
voting, which perhaps also explains the far lower turnout for the Lok
Sabha elections.



Over the last several months, we have been tracking what can only be
termed as an unreported story - Farmer suicides in Gujarat . We have
primarily been filming in the Saurashtra region, though suicides are not
confined to this belt. A few months ago, we got queries filed under the
RTI Act to dig up details of all suicides.   Though the government
denied us the data initially, after appeals and hearings, some details
have now been formally handed to us. While Modi recently told the
Gujarat Assembly that only 148 farmers have committed suicide in
Gujarat, the data handed to us is for 366 suicides! We have also managed
to dig up the data for all claims paid and denied under the Kisan Bima
Yojana that cover farmers' accidental deaths. Of the 1200-odd claims,
several have been denied – we are now probing the grounds of denial (eg,
was it actually a suicide reported as an accident to help fudge the
figures?)



This film would also deal with the issue of farmer debts, BT cotton
cultivation, power tariff, irrigation (where is the promised Narmada
water?) and the opposition to SEZs in Rajula and Jasapara.



(Apologies for any cross-posting)