Final Solution (Gujarat Riots)
Encyclopedia
The Final Solution is a 2003 documentary directed by Rakesh Sharma
about the 2002 communal Gujarat Riots that arose as a response to the Godhra Train Burning
incident on February 27, 2002, where 58 Hindus were burnt alive on a train carriage. An official estimate states that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed during the riots, with 223 more missing. The documentary consists mostly of interviews, with both Muslims and Hindus, of multiple generations, and both sexes, with different views regarding the causes, justifications, and the actual events of the violence that occurred, as well as their prospects for the future. The government of Gujurat at the time, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi
, was highly criticised throughout the documentary and was accused of inciting much of the rioting and not doing enough to halt it.
One of the interviewees was a small boy who claimed to have seen his relatives being killed in the riots. He said that he wanted to become a "fauji
" (soldier) who would kill Hindus when he grew up. When asked why, he replied in Hindi, "Because they did the same."
Final Solution was banned in India by the Censor Board for several months. The ban was lifted in Oct.'04 after a sustained campaign (an online petition, hundreds of protest screenings countrywide, multi-city signature campaigns and dozens of letters to the Government sent by audiences directly).
A Pirate-and-Circulate campaign was conducted in protest against the ban (Get-a-free-copy-only-if-you-promise-to-pirate-and-make-5-copies). Over 10,000 free Video CDs of the film were distributed in India during this campaign, which ended in Dec. 2004. Final Solution was offered free to Anhad for their campaigns; it was included in their anthology titled "In defence of our dreams". Subscribers of several journals/mags also got a copy of the film free of cost. These included Communalism Combat (Ed : Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand), Samayik Varta (Ed : Yogendra Yadav), Janmat and several smaller journals.
Final Solution was rejected by the government-run Mumbai International Film Festival, but was screened at 'Vikalp: Films for Freedom', organised by the Campaign Against Censorship. Rakesh Sharma has been an active member of the Campaign since its inception.
A pilot movement to copy-and-redistribute the movie was held, briefly to protest the censoring of
the movie screenings. The film has been screened on BBC, NHK, DR2, YLE and several other channels. It is yet to be shown on Indian television.
Rakesh Sharma (filmmaker)
Rakesh Sharma is a prominent Indian documentary film-maker. 46-year-old Sharma is based in Goa. His famous work is the feature-length documentary Final Solution on the communal Gujarat riots of 2002...
about the 2002 communal Gujarat Riots that arose as a response to the Godhra Train Burning
Godhra Train Burning
The Godhra train burning was an incident in which a sleeper coach on a passenger train was set on fire in 2002 by Muslims in Godhra, Gujarat, India in a conspiracy...
incident on February 27, 2002, where 58 Hindus were burnt alive on a train carriage. An official estimate states that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed during the riots, with 223 more missing. The documentary consists mostly of interviews, with both Muslims and Hindus, of multiple generations, and both sexes, with different views regarding the causes, justifications, and the actual events of the violence that occurred, as well as their prospects for the future. The government of Gujurat at the time, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.He was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar; and is a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood, as also an active politician since early in life. He holds a masters degree in political...
, was highly criticised throughout the documentary and was accused of inciting much of the rioting and not doing enough to halt it.
One of the interviewees was a small boy who claimed to have seen his relatives being killed in the riots. He said that he wanted to become a "fauji
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
" (soldier) who would kill Hindus when he grew up. When asked why, he replied in Hindi, "Because they did the same."
Screenings and Censoring
The movie was initially banned in India for about a year, till early 2005 for fears that massive communalism and radicalism would be ignited by its extremely inflammatory content.Final Solution was banned in India by the Censor Board for several months. The ban was lifted in Oct.'04 after a sustained campaign (an online petition, hundreds of protest screenings countrywide, multi-city signature campaigns and dozens of letters to the Government sent by audiences directly).
A Pirate-and-Circulate campaign was conducted in protest against the ban (Get-a-free-copy-only-if-you-promise-to-pirate-and-make-5-copies). Over 10,000 free Video CDs of the film were distributed in India during this campaign, which ended in Dec. 2004. Final Solution was offered free to Anhad for their campaigns; it was included in their anthology titled "In defence of our dreams". Subscribers of several journals/mags also got a copy of the film free of cost. These included Communalism Combat (Ed : Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand), Samayik Varta (Ed : Yogendra Yadav), Janmat and several smaller journals.
Final Solution was rejected by the government-run Mumbai International Film Festival, but was screened at 'Vikalp: Films for Freedom', organised by the Campaign Against Censorship. Rakesh Sharma has been an active member of the Campaign since its inception.
A pilot movement to copy-and-redistribute the movie was held, briefly to protest the censoring of
the movie screenings. The film has been screened on BBC, NHK, DR2, YLE and several other channels. It is yet to be shown on Indian television.