Indian Express :Ex-Hinduite’s film exposes DU politics, money-muscle nexus
By Pallavi Singh
New Delhi, August 14: AUGUST 2005. Two students in their early twenties are at pains to balance a BD150 camera on a bulky tripod while riding a black Pulsar motorbike amid traffic. In the sweltering heat, they both sweat while shooting deafening sloganeering and wannabe politicos making speeches in the middle of the road.
The exercise continues for a fortnight.
All this might sound a jot filmi, but if you ask Nitin Kumar how he made his first documentary on Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) polls, he would tell you this account of his and friend Amit Madheshiya’s tryst with the democratic process. The rest, he insists, is better watched on screen[MORE/ FULL STORY]
Filmmaker’s reaction to the article
Hi Pallavi,
thanks for all your support towards the film and efforts that
we are into…
every thing is just fine with the article,
except that one line which directly quotes
me against AISA…
I would highly appreciate if you do something appropriate
towards correcting the wrong interpretation of yours…
Below is the letter to the editor…
Best
Nitin K.
To the Editor,
Indian Express
Dear Sir/Madam,
Today’s Indian Express City Newsline carries a story titled ‘ Ex-Hinduite’s film exposes DU politics, money-muscle nexus‘ by Pallavi Singh, based on a phone interview with me about my film ‘Black Pamphlets’ on DUSU elections.
I am shocked to find that the words ” As an activist with the Left-wing All India Student’s Association (AISA), I believed in bringing about change…but I found the ideology bit (sic) quite a sham” have been put into my mouth. The reporter never asked for my ideological views or for my views on AISA. In fact I told her that my other film is a documentary on the legacy of 1857, voluntarily made by me for the CPI(ML). Far from finding it a ‘sham’, it was the experience of being an AISA activist which taught me to perceive the dynamics of money-muscle power in dominant groups like NSUI-ABVP in DUSU politics, and showed me why it is such a tough challenge for groups like AISA to create an alternate political culture in DU.
I hope that you will publish a corrigendum on this matter – and also that you will publish this letter of mine. That is surely the least your paper can do to undo the damage of wrongly attributing to me opinions that are not mine and never can be mine.
Nitin Kumar
black pamphlets 