Homage : S Sukhdev

6th Chennai International Documentary Short Film Festival 2018

Jointly organised by MARUPAKKAM and Goethe-Institut Chennai

Homage : S. Sukhdev

Film screening and Interaction to remember and celebrate S Sukhdev

Sukhdev, who had served a long period of apprenticeship with Paul Zils and later became his assistant, is generally regarded as one of India's best documentary filmmakers. With a career spanning over two decades, Sukhdev has more than 60 films to his name and over 35 international and national awards. His work serves as an archival documentation of an emerging India – at times a critical voice that spoke with honesty, and not with the tone of state ordained propaganda that was rife in documentations of the nascent republic during the era. He showed an early promise with films like And Miles to Go and After the Eclipse, both of which had a socio-political content. However, he came to the fore with an hour-long documentary India '67. This was followed by another monumental work Nine Months to Freedom on the emergence of Bangladesh. 

1) India 67 - An Indian Day

Dir: Sukdev; 55 min; 1967; Color; No dialogue

Produced and directed by S. Sukhdev, this film is a cinematic perusal of the contrasts, contradictions and diversity of India. The film has no commentary, but the shots speak for themselves. Just like Indian feature films, this film also has drama and songs, but these are ‘real-life’ rather than conceived specially for this film. The film produces the same effect on the viewers as a month-long visit to India, a sense of having seen everything and a sense of having seen nothing, both at the same time. Shot almost half a century ago, the film is still relevant to the present day 21st century India.

2) Nine Months to Freedom

Dir: Sukhdev; 66 min; 1975; Color; English

When the Bangladesh pogrom began, Sukhdev was one of the very few Indian filmmakers who was in the thick of the action at considerable physical risk. The result was Nine Months to Freedom, a work of compelling power. The Bangladesh story is placed in historical perspective from the emergence of Pakistan upto the return of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to his people. The basic conflict that arose between the two wings of Pakistan - the language problem, the riots, the demands for freedom from exploitation and for self rule, the crackdown by the Pakistan Army, the exodus of refugees, the nine-month-long struggle, the genocide and the rapes and mass destruction - Sukhdev's camera shows it all.

3) And Miles to Go

Dir: Sukhdev; 14 min; 1967; B&W; English

Assisted by the voice of Zul Vellani, the film is an emphatic call to the citizens of India to be active participants in the future of the country. Made twenty years after India's independence, the film attempts to provoke through a montage of contradicting lifestyles.

4)The Vanishing Tribe

Dir: Paul Zils; 16 min; 1961; Color; English

A documentary on the Todas, the origingal inhabitants of the Nilgiris, 'the Blue Mountains' of South India. The origin of the Todas is shrouded in mystery but what is interesting about them is that their traditions and elaborate ceremonies have remained unchanged ever since the days of their forefathers

Sukhdev assisted Paul Zils in this film.

5) Voice of the People

Dir: Sukhdev; 16 min; 1974; B&W; Hindi

Maker of this film, S. Sukhdev says in the beginning : "On the 16th ofApril, I read a news items that there is going to be an all Indiarailway strike. I got a little worried; we decided to take the cameraout to the people and asked them a few questions."Views from the cross-section of society are elicited on the questionwhether such a strike should take place or not.