Risky Business

Does he make any money out of it? There is of course this huge intellectual satisfaction, but can passion rule over paisa?

cumentary maker Ajay Bhardwaj holds his interactions with reality

Does he make any money out of it? There is of course this huge intellectual satisfaction, but can passion rule over paisa? Is this soul satisfaction enough for survival? While questions play musical chairs in our head, Ajay Bhardwaj pushes the stop button and lays out his own dilemmas. 8220;I confront them all the time, this constant questioning, but I choose to hold interactions with reality and I am aware of the very small space I work in8230;so, I know that this is only as far as I can go,8221; documentary-maker and an ex TV guy, Bhardwaj has learnt the fine art of survival, and makes the points for it. 8220;Take Ek Minute Ka Maun. Before JNU student Chandrasekhar Prasad was killed in 1997 in Sivan, I was just another mainstream television producer churning out programmes like Turning Point, game shows, chat shows. It was this one incident that made me gather footage and zoom on reality, and before we knew, it spiralled into a mass student movement,8221; eleven years and Ajay8217;s documentary is still running strong. Justice has been delayed, but Ajay has made his point. 8220;The film gave immense power to students, it became a source of inspiration for them. It was another roar after Mandal.8221; The trajectory on reflecting on things beyond the call of duty was always there, in this instance, it took a turn for good. 8220;I8217;ve never gone back to television ever since for it8217;s not the same. It has lost its strength of features,8221; says Ajay, dealing with a different reality. 8220;Not the reality of telly today, this one8217;s a risky business.8221; He8217;s dealt with the pangs of Partition, the bond between Dalits and sufism, the plight of farmers and agriculture, and most of his works have been upfrontly agitational and outrightly political. 8220;But luckily, I was never pulled into a controversy,8221; he smiles. 8220;There are forces at work which tamper with the themes chosen, but I am not the one who can be silenced. At least I8217;d like to believe so.8221; It8217;s this focus that compels Ajay to refuse to give legitimacy to the Censor Board by acknowledging their existence. 8220;I am part of those documentary makers who bypass the Board, and hence, are never part of the National awards,8221; he reflects.

The process of documentary making is self learning. 8220;You tell a story to yourself first and then to the audience, and the amount of discovery made is immense for it gives the maker a possibility of contemplation and communication,8221; feels Ajay, whose documentaries on his land, Punjab, border on the same thought 8211; quest. Is there a future for documentaries, we probe, looking for growth and acceptance. 8220;Technology has pushed it quite a few notches high. Even the tech illiterates are picking up digital cameras and recording realities we never get to see on the telly. The form has opened up tremendously,8221; Ajay8217;s quite positive.

Cameras have turned on oneself, and it8217;s a time for personal narratives. Still, Ajay feels it8217;s not enough. 8220;Issues are mounting and thousands won8217;t work in the vastness of this country8230;we need more.8221; The room is always big enough for improvement.