Anhad Films’ journey dates back to 2008 with its core impetus to purposefully intervening as a catalyst for social change through the modes of resolute film-making. Anhad, the word literally meaning ‘limitless’, makes the sky the only limit to pushing the creative frontiers of Anhad Films.
Mohan Kumawat, and Sania Hashmi, the founding members of Anhad Films, have been working together for more than 10-years now. They have been the constant flag-bearers and driving forces behind the organization. While Mohan, a graduate of journalism, found his passion behind the cameras, Sania being a theatre-enthusiast ultimately found her true joy in documentary film-making after trying her hands-on mundane feature and ad film-making for several years.
In an exclusive conversation with LifeBeyondNumbers, Sania candidly shared about the organizational motto, the ideals behind, challenges faced, and upcoming projects of Anhad Films.
The Purpose Behind
The organization has touched upon several important issues of social relevance, viz., gender-based and caste-based violence, communalism, etc. Digging out the stories that often go into oblivion or are unheard of in the everyday public discourse and materializing those in the form of documentary films have been the primary focus of Anhad Films. So far, since 2008, to the credit of these two directors, they have made around 80 films and short videos.
“We were quite disheartened with the little to almost no space being given to the on-ground stories and accounts with considerable social implications in the mainstream media coverage which includes both films and video documentation. Initially, we grew up as the team in-charge of video documentation at the behest of the NGO, called Anhad, and gradually, in 2010, we decided to become an independent entity with a setting equipped particularly for film-making,” Sania narrates succinctly about the beginning of their journey with Anhad Films.
The idea behind Anhad Films is to reach as many people as possible through the modes of film-making and start a conversation around various issues of social relevance. For example, the series titled Hindustan ki Kahani questions the very notion of a monolithic Indian culture, on the other hand, the documentary Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain Terey looks into the aspect of everyday harassment of women depriving them of their basic rights to dignity and freedom.
Here is one of the episodes from their series Hindostan Ki Kahani:
“Both of us very strongly felt that art in general and film-making, in particular, have strong social messages to impart. Art may have a lasting impact on shaping one’s thoughts and views. It might not start a revolution per se but has the capacity to challenge the numerous societal stereotypes and influence one in unlearning years of imbibed prejudices. Film-making essentially, as a mode of audio-visual representation, is capable of challenging the sedimented predispositions of human minds,” Sania explains the organizational vision of Anhad Films.
Art Bearing The Seeds of Social Change
Anhad Films, as an organization with immense artistic faculties, recounts the role of the artists in the country in shaping the narratives around. “History tells us that it is the responsibility of the artists across the world to raise voices against injustices and speak truth to power,” Sania assertively says. Despite incessant attacks on various forms of art, Sania is hopeful of the future of art and artists in the country but is also concerned about the spread of ‘hate’ through media.
“There are definitely occasions when many artists in our country succumb to power in the face of vehement attacks on their art forms but I believe despite these there are many who have equally held their grounds and did not shy away from questioning the establishment. While definitely a minuscule section of artists does get carried away in order to align with ‘power’, the true artists will continue to strive for truth and justice to prevail in the country,” she mentions.
The Impact Of Anhad Films
The immaculate impact of their film-making may not be readily visible and discernible but the creation of an affirmative discourse surrounding various topics of social relevance sprouts the potential for social change.
“We may never be able to gauge the on-ground impact of our work numerically but on various occasions after screenings of our films, we have had people coming up to us and admitting how our films have compelled them to think differently. Even if our work makes a single person among the audiences think, we consider ourselves successful,” expresses Sania.
On one such occasion, after the screening of Bol Ke Lab Azaad Terey in Rajasthan, two-boys came up to Mohan Kumawat to express how they were indeed unaware of what could have constituted harassment before and felt sorry of the fact that they may have unknowingly committed the folly of making women uncomfortable.
The Challenges Faced
Despite their strong commitment and ethos, the biggest challenges that Anhad Films face are in terms of its resources and reach. “Finding adequate resources has always been a hurdle for independent film-makers of the country. There are few organizations in the country funding independent film-makers, particularly for making documentaries. Even the ones abroad are extremely competitive to get through,” she reflects upon the generality of the situation for independent documentary filmmakers across the country.
Though fortunately, they have gotten funding from these organizations various times, these have not been adequate in executing all the ideas tabled in the organization. “On many occasions, we had borrowed from our friends and families for finishing our projects, though that may not be feasible every time we venture for a project”, she mentions.
“The opportunity of getting sponsors for documentary films is also slim, given it does not necessarily satisfy the purpose of advertising by reaching a huge number of audiences,” she explains when asked about the sponsorship opportunities.
Though there are some opportunities in raising funds for the organization during the post-production phase by posting it on YouTube or by commercially circulating the film on various platforms, making of the film itself requires enough resources. In India despite there being no dearth of burning issues that a film-maker may be dealing with, the inadequacy of resources and avenues pose the greatest challenges in materializing lots of ideas successfully.
There are also plenty of obstacles that they face in terms of reaching out to the audiences successfully. “As an independent organization, with limited resources and logistics, we can only take it to a limited number of audiences through the screenings of our documentaries on various film festivals and educational institutions. In the past few years, many a time the screenings of our films, especially the ones focusing on the issue of communalism, have been stalled owing to controversies surrounding them,” she elaborates.
Despite such attacks, she is optimistic about the fact that there have also been enough support and resistance to those attacks making both the facets two sides of the same coin. Though recently there have been some opportunities for screening these documentaries on multiplexes, at present due to the pandemic situation that process has also been hampered significantly.
“Now, the only way to reach people is by releasing these documentaries on online platforms. Overall, we have been constantly negotiating through various challenges on the way and striving to overcome those,” she adds.
Recognitions and Upcoming Projects
The list of recognitions, received by Anhad Films, is anything but short.
- In 2020, It Takes A Village To Save A Mother’s Life was selected at “The Lift-Off Sessions” film festival in the U.K, and in 2019, it won the best film and best overall entry award at the prestigious COPASAH Symposium.
- Saahas Ke Chaar Adhyay, another Anhad Films production, was released and screened at WISCOMP Saahas Awards Ceremony in 2017
- Another monumental success of the organization Bol Ke Lab Azad Hain Terey was selected and screened at Open Frame Film Festival (2014), Sand Dunes International Short Film Festival (2014), Woodpecker International Film Festival (2015), Vibgyor International Film Festival (2015) and Delhi International Short film Festival (2015).
- Bol Ke Lab Azad Hain Terey also won the best documentary award at Sand Dunes International Film Festival in 2014.
- Four of Anhad Films’ productions were selected and screened at Intimalente Ethnographic Film Festival 2014 in Italy, while six of them were screened at the same festival in Italy in 2013.
No matter how many awards and accolades they have won, Sania considers the very fact that they could make the kinds of content they wished for, stayed true to their paths, have been appreciated for their works, and be able to trigger thoughts in the minds of the viewers are the biggest landmarks of Anhad Films’ successful journey.
Though due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the works of Anhad Films have been greatly affected owing to the risks associated with the shooting, there are a couple of ongoing projects on the verge of completion. Currently, in collaboration with historian Sohail Hashmi, they have been making short videos in the form of historical story-telling and are also working on a full-length documentary on the conditions of maternal health in the states of Orissa and Chhattisgarh under the patronage of Indian economist cum activist Jean Dreze.
The essence of Anhad Films’ success lies in ‘creating’ the audiences for their films. “We strongly believe that it is important on the part of the film-makers to make thought-provoking films that would make the audience think and reciprocate accordingly. It is grossly incorrect on the part of the Indian film-makers to conceive of the audiences to be incapable of thinking through. If we can provide the audiences with thought-provoking content, there are enough audiences to consume it,” opines Sania.
The works of Anhad Films have been inspiring, thought-provoking, and immensely praise-worthy owing to its vibrant story-telling and deep engagements with the matters of social relevance.