By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Director of the documentary Red Ant Dream, Sanjay Kak has termed mining in Meghalaya as a terrible industry.
After the successful screening of the documentary here on Friday, Kak said in a message relevant to Meghalaya, “Mining is a terrible industry. Probably it is worst in the world. Mining has affected South America, Africa and other places around the world because it takes away what is there and brings about destruction.”
The special screening of Red Ant Dream, held at Don Bosco Youth Centre, turned out to be a huge success.
The move of the State police to prevent the screening of the movie during the INDIE8 film festival has helped to draw a large crowd during the special screening.
Kak said that it was a great thing to see so many people during the special screening.
Asked about his reaction to the state police’s insistence on “vetting” the documentary before its scheduled screening at the Indie8 film festival at St Anthony’s College, Kak said initially he was infuriated.
“It was such a stupid thing to do. But in the long run it was a positive one. Students would have experienced only a partial view if the film was shown as part of a film fest. But the police, by their actions, have helped students to see the realities of documentary film-making.” the director said.
One of the viewers was surprised about the film focusing, in part, on left-wing movements in Punjab. Kak explained that part of the film dealt with the Punjab movement, which is based around Bhagat Singh, because many in India think that Maoism is only concentrated in rural central India even though it exists in “developed” Punjab.
Asked why the viewpoint of the anti-Naxal movement, Salva Judum was not represented in the documentary, Kak explained that Salva Judum was not formed as an anti-Maoist movement per se, but came into existence only when the Adivasi elite felt that their powers over the more oppressed Adivasis were being eroded due to the Maoists.
The director made no issue of hiding some of his sentiments, saying that “No doubt that at the heart of the film, capitalism is the problem.