Full Movie in English Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth, by Jabbar Patel This is one of the finest historical film made in Independent India. The movie is a refreshing antidote to the way we have looked at INDIA in this century. A work of cinematic scholarship. Full Movie in English Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth, by Jabbar Patel This is one of the finest historical film made in Independent India. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The film portrays the life and mission of the greatest humanitarian Dr. The film got most of ts part correct and includes historical events like Mahad Satyagraha, Kalaram entry movement, the struggles of the so ca. It tells the story of B. Ambedkar, known mainly for his contributions in the emancipation of the downtrodden and oppressed classes in India and shaping the Constitution of India, as the chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constituent Assembly. A portrait of the one of our greatest social reformer of our times - Ambedkar.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth' [HD] Full Movie in English

[Full Movie in English] Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth, by Jabbar Patel
This is one of the finest historical film made in Independent India. The movie is a refreshing antidote to the way we have looked at INDIA in this century. A work of cinematic scholarship.
This film takes place between the years 1901 to 1956, a period of great social upheavals and revolutionary movements around the world. In India during this time, there were two struggles being fought simultaneously; the first, which is well known throughout the world, was India's fight for independence spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi, against the British colonial powers.
The second struggle, much less well known but no less important was an internal struggle. Seventy million Indian untouchables, led by Dr. Ambedkar were fighting for their rights against upper caste Hindu society.
This film holds its significance due to the fact that, though the ethos contained is Indian, it has its equation in the political and social disparity all over the world. The basic aim of the social revolution is to uphold the meaning of humanity in its truest sense.
Born in an 'untouchable' family at a time when untouchables were forbidden education, Ambedkar bore many insults and humiliations at the hands of his fellow students and became the first graduate of his community. Later, while studying at Columbia University, New York, Ambedkar was able to rid himself of the stigma of untouchability and breathe the air of freedom. But at the same time living next to Harlem he could equate the fate of his people with that of the Afro-Americans.
Though this story is particular to India, it is also universal. While Dr Ambedkar was rooted in India, he also had an international outlook. There will always be people like him who struggle to better the lot of the exploited, the downtrodden, and the forgotten. His was the universal fight of the underdog, to gain his people a rightful place in the sun.
The film evolved from the documentary film he made on the life of Dr Ambedkar for Films Division in 1989. Shooting for this documentary was also done part in the US and the UK and mainly in India when Patel met people who were in actual contact with Dr Ambedkar. 'The incidents related to me by these people, their fond memories of the learned visionary were so touching and exciting that I thought, the only true tribute to the great man would be a lifesize sketch of Dr Ambedkar on the silver screen.'
According to director Jabbar Patel, it is important for every Indian to see the film because 'we don't often read this chapter of our history. As we can see from events around us today, the social struggle of Dr. Ambedkar is important to know because it helps us better understand the present'.
http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/bhimrao_ambedkar.html

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Movie Tamil

EPW Commentary April 8-14, 2000
By: Sukhadeo K Thorat

Following a decision taken during the birth centenary year of BabasahebAmbedkar, the union ministry of social justice and empowerment and theMaharashtra government have jointly produced a film on the life andcontributions of Ambedkar. The film project, which started in the early1990s, took almost nine years to complete under the direction of JabbarPatel.

The period between the early 1920s and mid-1950s, which coincided with theAmbedkar-led movement, was crucial in Indian history as it saw the evolutionof the political, economic and social framework of the present-day India.This period also brought forth a galaxy of eminent leaders who contributedsignificantly to the making of the Indian state as a nation. Ambedkar stoodapart from his eminent contemporaries because he combined in himself thedistinction of being a social revolutionary, a statesman, a scholar and avisionary. It is a daunting task for a film director to project Ambedkar'smultifarious contributions and his controversial positions on severalissues. To what extent is the film able to capture the life andcontributions of Ambedkar can be subjected to interrogation.

In the beginning, the film portrays Ambedkar's personal life, covering theperiod between 1913 and early 1920s. Later on, it focuses on Ambedkar as acivil rights activist, social revolutionary, Constitution-maker andpolitical leader (only to the extent that he obtained minority status andrepresentation in central and state assemblies and government jobs for theuntouchables). Finally, the film shows that Ambedkar found the ultimatesolution to the problems of the depressed classes in conversion to Buddhism.

In my view, the film presents only the 'known and popular Ambedkar'. Itignores Ambedkar's role as a labour leader, as a contributor to theformulation of post-war economic plans, and as a scholar whose writingsinfluenced the main political events between 1920s and mid-1950s. Above all,it fails to reveal Ambedkar as a visionary political leader who had anideology and an agenda for the socialand economic transformation of the dalits and other weaker sections of theIndian society.

The opening scenes of the film are about Ambedkar's days as a postgraduatestudent at the Columbia University, New York, from where he did his MA andPhD in economics between July 1913 and June 1916, his life at the LondonSchool of Economics and Grays Inn, where he read law from July 1916 toAugust 1917, and his stay at the same institutes, when he completed hisstudies for MSc, DSc and Bar-at-Law from September 1920 to April 1923. Thisperiod of seven years in his life was of unparalleled hard work and isdepicted most effectively in the film.

The film traces Ambedkar's turbulent personal life during 1917-1932. He hadbeen humiliated by the high caste Hindus in Baroda during his short tenureas a military secretary to the maharaja of Baroda in 1917. Even the maharajacould not help him when he had been ill-treated by his junior staff and hadnot been able to get accommodation in any part of the city. This had led thelonely and frustrated Ambedkar to spend most part of a fateful night under atree in anguish and helplessness. 'Tired, hungry and fagged out, he satunder a tree and burst into tears', says Dhananjay Keer (1954:108), Ambedkar's biographer. At Bombay's Sydenham College, his faculty colleagues had notallowed him to drink water from their vessel. The film dwells withsensitivity on his family life in a cramped two-room flat in Bombay's'improvement trust chawls' and the death of his son Rajratna and wifeRamabai.

But Jabbar Patel shows, only in very quick flashbacks, Ambedkar's upbringingas an untouchable child in a socially hostile environment of the Hindusociety. He selects three incidents of caste-based discrimination andhumiliation. These were the refusal by a barber to cut Ambedkar's hair (hissister had to be his barber for several years), the denial by a high castebullock cart driver to carry him and his brother after he had discoveredtheir caste, and the rejection of his request to take Sanskrit as anoptional subject for undergraduate studies by Bombay's Elphinstone College.These three brief episodes hardly give an idea about his socially torturouschildhood that became the foundation of his stormy career. Instead, thedirector could have cut out unimportant scenes in London and elsewhere, likethe one which shows him playing the violin.

Ambedkar's life had begun as a social and political activist in 1918 andgathered momentum after the establishment of 'Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha'(Association For The Welfare Of Depressed Classes) in July 1924. The periodbetween mid-1920s and 1930s had been marked by widespread protests againstcaste discrimination and untouchability in Maharashtra [Khairmode 1956 (vol2), 1964 (vol 3), 1968 (vols 4 and 5)]. The director has rightly picked uptwo major agitations to show Ambedkar's civil rights activities, whichtriggered off protest movements in several parts of urban and ruralMaharashtra. These two incidents relate to the assertion of the lower castesto obtain access to a public water tank in Mahad and to gain entry into thefamous Kalaram temple in Nasik.

Both agitations had their origin in the resolution that had been moved bysocial reformer S K Bole in the Bombay legislative council and adopted bythe government. In pursuance of this resolution passed in 1923, the Mahadmunicipality had thrown open the Chawadar water tank to the untouchables.The Kalaram temple issue had also come under the purview of the Boleresolution and had raised the hopes of the untouchables.

The film presents a moving account of the Mahad conference of March 19-20,1927, the drinking of water from the Chawadar tank by the untouchablemasses, which they had been prohibited from doing for several years, and thesubsequent attacks on the delegates by the high caste orthodox Hindus. Inthese attacks, 20 persons had been seriously injured. The film also showsthe purification ceremony in which the high caste Hindus had hurled 108earthen pitchers of curd and 'holy' water into the tank filled with cow-dungand urine, while the brahmin priests chanted mantras. This is how the highcaste Hindus had purified the tank water for their use.

Terribly hurt by the actions of the high caste Hindus, Ambedkar againorganised an agitation in Mahad. He burnt a copy of Manusmriti to show hiscondemnation of the holy scriptures which had become synonymous withinequality, cruelty and injustice. In this, his brahmin friend Sahasrabuddhehad taken the lead. Regretfully, the film does not show that Ambedkarfinally succeeded in obtaining access to the Mahad tank after a long-drawncourt battle in March 1937, exactly a decade after the agitation of March1927.

Similarly, Ambedkar's agitation to secure temple-entry in Nasik provokedviolent attacks on him and several other participants. The protest aboutKalaram temple in Nasik also went on for a decade but in this case, theorthodox Hindus never yielded. It would have been useful if the film hadshown the efforts made by Gandhi, Munje of the Hindu Mahasabha andKurtokoti, a Shankaracharya, to change the minds of the Hindus. Keerdescribes the opposition of the Hindus as follows: 'it was felt that evenRama himself would be thrown aside, if he were to tell the orthodox Hindusto throw open the temple to the untouchables' [Keer 1954:138].

During the 1920s and 1930s, Ambedkar was also deeply involved in convincingthe British government and Gandhi about the necessity of granting minoritystatus and special representation in central and provincial assemblies andgovernment jobs to the depressed classes, like the Muslims, Christians,Sikhs and Anglo-Indians. An intense encounter had taken place betweenAmbedkar and Gandhi over separate electorate for the depressed classes. TheBritish government had accepted the proposal for separate electorate butGandhi opposed it tooth and nail and went on fast unto death as the lastresort. The fast resulted in the Poona Pact of 1932 that provided forreservation of seats in assemblies and parliament.

The film, however, does not present Ambedkar's ultimate position in favourof separate electorate which he had stated in the manifesto of the 'AllIndia Scheduled Caste Federation' in 1942 and in 'A Memorandum: State andMinorities' in 1947. Ambedkar reiterated his views when he lost the LokSabha election against the Congress candidate Kajrolkar in Bombay in 1952and the by-election against the Congress candidate, Borkar in Bhandara, in1954.

Major Lacuna

After depicting the events of the Poona Pact, the film quickly moves on toAmbedkar's appointment as a labour member in the Viceroy's executive councilin 1942, his part in drafting the Constitution and the Hindu Code Bill andhis conversion to Buddhism. The film does not seriously consider hiscontributions as a labour leader, an influential scholar and above all as apolitical leader of the dalits and the poor. Gail Omvedt has described thisphenomenon as 'Ambedkarism', an ideology for the liberation of the dalitsfromthe social and economic exploitation involved in caste and capitalism[Omvedt 1994:224-59].

Let me elaborate these points briefly to make my position clear. Between1925 and 1942, particularly, after he had formed the Independent LabourParty (ILP) in 1936, Ambedkar had been an important economic and politicalradical. As a member of the Bombay legislative council (1925 onwards), asthe leader of the ILP (1936-42) and the labour minister in central cabinet(1942-46), Ambedkar worked in a number of ways for the cause of agriculturallabour, industrial workers and peasants. He introduced the Khoti System billand the Mahar Watan bill to reform agrarian relations. The Khoti bill wasintroduced to abolish the 'khoti' landlords and secure occupancy right forthe tenants. With the Communist Party, Ambedkar had organised the biggestpre-independence mobilisation of peasants in Maharashtra. He led a march of20,000 poor peasants to the Bombay assembly to demand reduction in theirrigation rate, debt relief and minimum wages for agricultural labour.

The peasants' agitation was followed by another equally dramatic event.Along with the moderate labour leaders and communists, Ambedkar hadorganised a general strike of textile workers in November 1938 against theindustrial dispute bill of September 1938 which made strike illegal undercertain circumstances and affected the rights of the workers. Nearly onelakh workers from 60 different unions participated in the strike. This wasthe climax of the dalit-Left unity. The ILP also organised agitations onbehalf of thelabour in several parts of Maharashtra.

The labour policy advocated by Ambedkar sought (i) provision of safeguardsand social security measures, (ii) equal opportunity for workers andemployers to participate in formulation of labour policy, and (iii)establishment of a machinery for enforcement of labour laws and settlementof disputes. To achieve this, Ambedkar wanted (a) setting up of an Indianlabour conference and standing labour committees, (b) enactment of labourlaws, (c) establishment of chief labour commissioners, (d) constitution ofinvestigative labour committees, and (e) recognition of trade unions. Thesepioneering ideas have made a significant impact on the labour movements andindustrial relations in India. This role of Ambedkar is entirely missing inthe film.

The film also omits his contributions in the formulation of the post-wareconomic plan during 1942-46 [Thorat 1998]. His suggestions for irrigationand electric power development led to the formulation of a water policy atthe all India level, the establishment of two technical organisations, i e,the central water commission and the central electricity authority, andacceptance of the concept of the 'river valley authority' to manage projectsof interstate rivers. Above all, Ambedkar set in motion India's two majormultipurpose river valley projects, namely, Damodar and Hirakud.

Nor does the film consider Ambedkar's impact as a prolific writer andthinker. The period between the early 1920s and mid-1950s saw crucialpolitical, economic and social developments for the future of India. Thequestion of minorities took a serious turn during this period and ultimatelyled to the partition of India. Independent India witnessed thereorganisation of different states. Ambedkar made scholarly expositions oneach of these issues.

Ambedkar contributed at all stages to the framing of the Constitution ofIndia. He submitted statements before the Southborough (franchise) reformcommittee in 1918, the Simon Commission in 1928 and the first and secondround table conferences in the early 1930s. He presented the outline for theConstitution in the form of the historic memorandum 'State and Minorities:What Are Their Rights and How to Secure Them in The Constitution of FreeIndia' in 1947. In this, he had visualised the Constitution of the UnitedStates of India and in 21 articles dwelt on the fundamental rights, theminority rights and the safeguards for the scheduled castes.

Earlier when the question of representation of the minorities had arisen, hehad expressed his views in the book 'Communal Deadlock and Ways to Solve It'in 1945. When the issue of a federal structure for India was beingdiscussed, he had published 'Federation versus Freedom' in 1943. Later, onthe question of Pakistan, he had made a scholarly presentation in 'Thoughtson Pakistan' in 1944. A revised edition 'Pakistan or the Partition of India'came out in 1945. In the first edition, he had foreseen the inevitability ofpartition and the formation of Pakistan. In the revised edition, he had setout, by way of contrast, the experiences of other countries to show thatgiven the will to live together it was not impossible for diversecommunities and even diverse nations to live in the bosom of one state.

He had criticised the state reorganisation committee in two books'Maharashtra as a Linguistic Province' (1948) and 'Thoughts on LinguisticStates' (1955). In principle, he agreed that language should be made thebasis for the creation of a state as a linguistic province produced socialhomogeneity. But he favoured the creation of small states and believed thata linguistic group could belong to different units. He had laid down fiveguiding principles for the formation of a state: (a) efficientadministration, (b) need of the area, (c) sentiments of the area, (d)proportion between the majority and minority, and (e) protection of theminority.

In his books 'Caste In India: Their Mechanism, Genesis And Development'(1916), 'Annihilation Of Caste' (1944), 'Who Were Shudras' (1946),'Untouchables: Who Were They And Why They Become Untouchables' (1948),'Philosophy of Hinduism' (published for the first time in 1987) and 'Buddhaand His Dhamma' (1957), Ambedkar tried to understand the origin of the castesystem and explore ways to reform the Hindu society and religion.

He had interpreted India's history in terms of conflict between socialsystems representing different religious and social ideologies. He hadrejected the earlier attempts of interpreting social and cultural history orcaste differences in terms of racial theory (or divide) or in terms ofnon-Aryan origins of dalits or adi-ideologies which looked upon the dalitsas the original inhabitants and brahmins as the aryan conquerors. He haddiscerned revolution and counter-revolution in Indian history. He hadconsidered the origin of the untouchables and shudras in the context of theconflict between Buddhism and brahmanism and the clash of civilisations inthe process of the social evolution in India [Omvedt 1994]. I think that allthis should have been in the film because it reveals the vision of astatesman for reconstructing the Indian state as a nation [Thorat 1999].

A major oversight in the film is that it does not take into account Ambedkar's role as a political leader who had an ideology for the emancipation ofthe dalits and other weaker sections of the Indian society. Ambedkar hadcome in close contact with various ideological groups, particularly theGandhians, Indian communists and democratic socialists. His closeinteraction with them helped him to develop his own ideological position. Heinteracted with Gandhi quite closely between 1930 and 1940. The only commonground between them was their desire to eradicate untouchability. They couldnot cooperate because they had very different views on how this could beachieved.

Firstly, Gandhi had opposed untouchability but had supported the castesystem till 1945. Secondly, he could not see the connection betweenuntouchability, caste system and the Hindu social and religious philosophy.Gandhi had stated in 1936: 'Caste has nothing to do with religion....further there is nothing in the law of varna to warrant a belief inuntouchability' [Ambedkar 1946]. Gandhi suggested a modified form of thevarna system in place of the caste system but did not favour a radicalreform of Hinduism [Thorat 1999]. On the other hand, Ambedkar forcefullyargued that both untouchability and caste system had their roots in theHindu philosophy, which was based on the doctrine of inequality. He haddemanded a drastic reform of the Hindu religion. Ambedkar alsosought asocialist transformation of the Indian society and emphasised onindustrialisation and scientific development. Gandhi stood for trusteeship,and village and cottage industries and had a general dislike for the westerncivilisation [Ambedkar 1970:132-60].

In the same period, Ambedkar came in close contact with the Indian Marxistsand his caste and class paradigm got shaped in the course of thisinteraction. He agreed with the Marxists that class conflict between classesand private ownership of property had been the root cause of exploitation.But he differed with their approach towards the caste question. In themid-1930s, he posed serious theoretical questions to the Marxists on theinterlinkages between the economic structure and the superstructure. Hearguedthat social and religious status were also sources of power. The social,religious and philosophical elements in Hinduism had justified, supportedand perpetuated the inequality and exploitation associated with the castesystem. This had made the caste system an extremely stubborn socialinstitution even if its economic base was destroyed. The reform of the Hindusocial and religious order was a necessary precondition for politicalchanges. Ambedkar said that the 'dalits will not join in socialistrevolution for equalisation of property unless they know that after therevolution is achieved they will be treated equally and that there will beno discrimination of caste and creed'. He had asked, 'Can it be said thatthe proletariat of India, poor as it is, recognises no distinction of caste.Karl Marx argued that the proletariat have nothing to lose except theirchains. But the artful way in which the social, religious and even economicrights are distributed among different castes whereby some have more andsome have less, even the high caste poor know that if a general dissolutioncomes they stand to lose more of their privileges than their low castecounterpart' [Ambedkar 1989:33-87, 82].

The Indian Labour Party was converted into the 'Scheduled Caste Federation'(SCF) in 1942. The SCF was finally converted into the Republican Party ofIndia (RPI) in 1956. The frequent change in the name of the political partyhad been result of the change in Ambedkar's political and economic ideologyat different stages. The joint struggle against 'brahminism and capitalism'had been the central focus of the ILP. The SCF had kept the specific thrustsof the ILP programmes but had added two new demands -separate village settlements for scheduled castes and separate electorate onthe ground that in any joint electorate, even with reserved seats the dalitswould be overshadowed by caste Hindus [Omvedt 1994, chapters 5, 6].

The final crystallisation of Ambedkar's ideological position emerged in thebook State and Minorities: What Are Their Rights And How To Secure Them InThe Constitution of Free India in 1947. In this book he forwarded asocialist economic framework which he argued for in the constituent assemblyand emphasised it in his comments on the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Resolution' onthe 'Aims and Objective of the Constitution' in 1946 [Government ofMaharashtra 1994:6-14, vol 13]. He said: 'I must confess that coming as theresolution does from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who is reputed to be asocialist, this resolution, although non-controversial, is to my mind verydisappointing. I should have expected him to go much further than he haddone, ....there are certain provisions which speak of justice, economic,social and political. If this resolution has a reality behind it andsincerity, of which I have not the least doubt coming as it does from themover of the Resolution, I should have expected some provision whereby itwould have been possible for the state to make economic, social andpolitical justice a reality and I should have from that view expected theResolution to state in most explicit terms that in order that there may besocial and economic justice in the country, that there would benationalisation of industry and nationalisation of land' [Ambedkar 1947].

Even after his death in 1956, Ambedkar's ideology has inspired andinfluenced the dalits of all religions - dalits in the Hindu fold,neo-buddhists, dalit Sikhs, dalit Christians and dalit Muslims, who togetherform nearly one-fourth of India's population. The film misses this pointtoo.

Though the film would be appreciated, despite its limitations, by the dalitsparticularly, it gives only a partial view of Ambedkar. Jabbar Patel, whowas supposed to capture and present the life and contributions of Ambedkarin totality (and not selectively), has lost a rare opportunity. He isunlikely to get a second chance to fill this vacuum.

[I am thankful to Tulsi Ram, Ghanshyam Shah of Jawaharlal Nehru Universityand Bharati Bhargava for useful comments.]

References

Ambedkar, B R (1946): Pakistan or the Partition of India, Thackers, Bombay.

- (1945): What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchable, Thackers,Bombay.

Ambedkar Images

- (1970): Gandhi and Gandhism (compiled by Bhagwan Das), Bheem PatrikaPublications, Jalandhar.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Movie Hindi

- Annihilation of Caste, Bheem Patrika Publications, Jalandhar.

- (1994) 'Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings And Speeches' and 'Dr Ambedkar:The Principal Architect of The Constitution of India', vol 13, Government ofMaharashtra.

Dhawan, S K (1991): Dr B R Ambedkar: A Select Profile, Wave Publications,Delhi.

Kadam, K N (1991): Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of theMovement: A Chronology, Popular, Bombay.

Keer, Dhananjay (1954): Dr Ambedkar - Life and Mission, Popular, Bombay.

Khairmode, C B: Dr Bhimrao Ramaji Ambedkar (biography in 15 volumes inMarathi), vol 2 (1956), vol 3 (1964), vols 4 and 5 (1968), Sugava, Pune.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Film Video

Omvedt, Gail (1994): Dalits and the Democratic Revolution - Dr Ambedkar andthe Dalit Movement in Colonial India, Sage, Delhi.

Thorat, S K (1998): Ambedkar's Role in Economic Planning and Water Policy,Khama, Delhi.

- (1999): 'Ambedkar and National Reconstruction' in Anand Kumar (ed), NationBuilding in India: Culture, Power and Society, Radiant, Delhi.