IN MEMORY OF FRIENDS documents the violence and terror in Punjab,
India - a land torn apart by religious fundamentalists and a repressive government.

After examining the political turmoil of the late1970s and rise of Sikh fundamentalism the film concentrates on the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a young socialist hanged by the British in 1931 at age 23. Singh has since become a legendary figure. Today the State eulogizes him as a nationalis while Sikh separatists portray him as a Sikh militant. In fact, Singh was neither. Just prior to his death he wrote a book which he entitled Why I Am An Atheist.

A band of brave Sikhs and Hindus carry Bhagat Singh's secular legacy from village to village. In the religiously charged countryside ideas of internationalism now carry a price.

IN MEMORY OF FRIENDS is an incisive look at identity politics in India today.


Awards:
Silver Conch, Bombay International Film Festival, 1990
Special Jury Prize, Mannheim International Festival, Germany, 1990
National Award, Best Investigative Documentary, India, 1990


Reviews:
"With growing Muslim fundamentalism in Kashmir, Sikh fundamentalism in Punjab and Hindu fundamentalism in not just the Hindi speaking heartland but even in Kerala, and West Bengal, the importance of such a political, ideological, intellectual and human document as that produced by Anand Patwardhan cannot be over emphasized."
Vidyarthi Chatterjee - Economic Times

"That this perspicacity was present in a man of just 23 (Bhagat Singh) seems astonishing. It was all so impressive that Patwardhan could not but see him as a great intellectual apart from being an inexorable revolutionary."
Adrian Khare - Blitz



Credits
Camera, Editing - Anand Patwardhan
Sound - Pervez Merwanji
Production Assistance - Narinder Singh, Shoba Sadgopan, Simantini Dhuru