Now you can watch Anand Patwardhan's award-winning Jai Bhim Comrade on Cinemapreneur

Two films by veteran documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan will be streamed on the OTT platform Cinemapreneur. Some of Patwardhan's films explore the rise of religious fundamentalism, sectarianism and casteism in India, while others investigate nuclear nationalism and unsustainable development practices.

Heart To Art: Across Borders was completed during the lockdown from footage shot in 2004 during a visit to Karachi as part of the Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), a group that has initiated people-to-people exchanges between the countries for many years. Patwardhan came across an exchange between art students from India and Pakistan, and the film foregrounds peaceful dialogue in the current political scenario which is witnessing a rise in jingoism in both countries.

Speaking about the films featuring on Cinemapreneur, Patwardhan said, “In this current pandemic, we are all restricted to our homes with festivals taking a hit in the physical world. When I got to know about Cinemapreneur, I wanted to experiment with this new-age viewing of films over an OTT platform. I wish them luck and am excited to contribute my new 10 minute short documentary which was shot in 2004 but edited during COVID times.”

Patwardhan also plans to release Jai Bhim Comrade with English subtitles for the first time on an OTT platform. Triggered by an unwarranted police firing that killed 10 Dalits in Mumbai in 1997 and shot over 14 years, the documentary follows the poetry and music of people like Vilas Ghogre that marks a subaltern tradition of reason that, from the days of the Buddha, has fought superstition and religious bigotry.

Gaurav Raturi, founder of Cinemapreneur, said, “We are delighted to have one of the most prestigious filmmakers from the documentary world on our platform. We have been interested in his work but could only find them in film festivals, which are not accessible to a large mass of the audience. Having such a respected name in our catalogue is a big motivation for us in continuing to do what we are doing to create this new home for Indian independent films.”

The films will be available for Rs199 on Cinemapreneur. The platform will provide access to the first few hundred users with a chance to interact with the filmmaker over a video session where they will get insights about these two films.

Both films will be streamed on Cinemapreneur from 6pm tomorrow.