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Prisoners of Conscience
1978 45’ b&w English/Hindi? d/p/co-c Anand Patwardhan m Shamla and Friends, Calcutta Peoples’ Choir co-c Pramod Mathur, Balan S., Govind Nihalani et al.
Patwardhan’s first documentary to be widely screened in India contains clandestinely filmed footage and features the arrest and detention of political prisoners during the Emergency. It emphasises the widespread practice of arrest and torture both before and after Indira Gandhi’s dictatorial crackdown. The film has interviews with several activists, including Jasbir Singh, member of the youth wing of the Socialist Party; D.P. Tripathi, member of the Students Federation of India; Mary Tyler, an Englishwoman who spent five years in prison and wrote the book My Years in an Indian Prison; Dev Nathan and Vasanthi Raman, intellectuals and supporters of the CPI(ML); and several others, alongside a humane commentary in the director’s voice.