“Our democracy is in danger,” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen declared at a seminar in Kolkata last week, drawing wrath from the BJP, who accused him of “misleading the society”. This exchange seems to be right out of Suman Ghosh’s documentary, The Argumentative Indian , where Sen expresses his concerns and fears about the current regime. “It does worry me that I can’t make a statement without people jumping at me,” he says, while strolling with famed economist and former student Kaushik Basu in Santiniketan. “I’m not a nationalist, but I am proud of my country.”
Renaissance man
In 2002, when Ghosh finished his Ph.D in economics, along with a film studies course, at Cornell University, he began making a documentary on Sen, chronicling his life, achievements and philosophies. “I found a renaissance man like him [to be] such a rarity,” says Ghosh, over the phone from Miami. After filming the Nobel laureate, his mother, colleagues, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the documentary went into deep freeze for 15 years, as the filmmaker got busy with seven feature films.
In 2017, Ghosh decided to revisit The Argumentative Indian , because he felt the world had changed dramatically in the past decade, and Sen’s voice was a lot more relevant today. “Sen has always voiced his concerns and opinions,” says Ghosh. “He has criticised the BJP government’s social and economic policies and has been a vociferous critic of Donald Trump.”
The 45-year-old filmmaker picked up from where he had left off in 2002, interviewed Sen again and re-edited the film. Alongside the evolution of Sen’s ideas and philosophies, the documentary throws light on India’s growth, from liberalisation to the present day.
There’s a segment where we get to see the differing opinions of Manmohan Singh (who was Finance Minister during liberalisation) and Sen. “They were very close to each other but I retained the spat between them because I didn’t want to make a partisan documentary,” says Ghosh. We also see Sen decode India under the BJP , the first time led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now, by Narendra Modi.
Lived experience
It’s probably not surprising then that a documentary where Sen warns against growing intolerance faced a censorship hurdle last year. Ahead of its theatrical release in Kolkata, the Censor Board asked Ghosh to remove eight words from the documentary, including ‘Gujarat’, ‘Hindutva’, ‘Hindu India’ and ‘cow’. “It’s quite shocking that a voice like Sen is being silenced,” says Ghosh. In the final version, however, only ‘Gujarat’ has been beeped out, while the online version stays intact. “Censorship rules don’t apply online,” he says.
But beyond the politics, philosophy, intellect and ideologies of Sen, we see little else of the man. “If a person’s personal life provided a larger canvas, I would use it,” reasons Ghosh. The only time The Argumentative Indian provides an insight into Sen’s vulnerabilities is when he talks about his tryst with cancer at the age of 18.
After spotting a suspicious growth in his mouth, he studied research papers on oral cancer and insisted on being diagnosed for it, despite his doctors’ discouragement. “The way he found out about his cancer gives an insight into a strong researcher, even as a teenager,” says Ghosh. After diagnoses, Sen was told he wouldn’t live for more than five years. Now 84, Sen talks about how he faces mortality, of the natural kind, once again. “It’s a sad thought, obviously,” says Sen, after much contemplation. “Especially since one enjoys living so much.”
kennith.rosario@thehindu.co.in
