Latest news with #HumDekhenge
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Vikrant Bhise's shades of blue
When Vikrant Bhise, 40, had his first big South Mumbai show, Hum Dekhenge (We Will See), in 2024, he gave the politically somnolent neighbourhood a booster shot of hidden-in-plain-sight history. 'Lots of people from the movement came,' the multi award-winning painter recalls. There was everything from Ambedkari jalsa (anti-caste protest poetry and songs) to Dalit Panther magazine archives that belonged to its co-founder Raja Dhale, and other invocations of Bhim, a rallying cry for Ambedkarites. Residents of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar chawl in suburban Ghatkopar stood in front of his paintings of the 1997 riot where police fired on those protesting the desecration of a statue of B.R. Ambedkar, and soaked in the portraits of the 10 victims. 'That's my uncle,' one visitor told Bhise. It was an important moment for an artist who is driven to paint the unseen and untold. 'This is my calling,' says Bhise, who witnessed the riot from his uncle's house. 'These are my stories.' His work seems even more urgent at a time when these histories are being deliberately erased and/or co-opted. Some visitors said they didn't know such things had happened in Mumbai and that too 'so recently'. Now you understand why the artist is on a mission to take our 3,000-year history of caste-based oppression to a wider audience and disillusion those who believe the caste system is dead. Pain, people and protest Bhise is prolific. He may set out to make 50 multi-layered works and end up with 120 as it happened with Archival Historicity, inspired by Dalit Panther pamphlets from the 1970s and showcasing their inspiration, the Black Panther Party, founded in California in 1966. (The series is ongoing; Bhise sees it as his 'daily diary'.) Some of these works were acquired and are on permanent display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. At his first solo show in Noida in 2023, there were some 400 works, including a 16x10 foot mural of the 16-year-long Namantar struggle that centred around renaming a university in Maharashtra's Aurangabad, and the 10-panel 'Quest For Justice' inspired by protests past and present that stretched across 40 feet. 'When I see the works of Renaissance painters, they're mostly about war and fighting, about the depiction of real things,' he says. 'This is our renaissance.' On display at the just-concluded Summer Berlinale were five panels or 20 feet of the Mahad Satyagraha, the 1927 non-violent movement led by Ambedkar for the right to access public water. Change is here, but its pace is not enough for the artist. 'We keep thinking how far we've come,' he says. 'But it's been 100 years and only one community does the waste collection and sanitation work.' From the precarious lives of workers to scholars driven to suicide by casteism, all find representation in Bhise's labyrinthine artworks bursting with pain, people and protest. Bodies are entwined in conflict and change in paintings with shades of blue that range from the palest sky to the deepest indigo. Painting untold histories While Bhise's works have always centred caste, labour, poverty and justice, it was only after the citizenship protests in 2019, the COVID-19 lockdown, and the farmers' protests, that he began painting Ambedkar, a leader who was invoked in all of these moments. 'Wherever there is injustice, there is Ambedkar,' Bhise says. His first portrait in 2021, titled Labour Leader, was of a worker using a rag to wipe a statue of Ambedkar. The man cleans the statue with his right hand as his left hand rests over Ambedkar's eyes. You could say it represents the uncovering of hidden history. 'Who killed Nitin Aage?' Bhise asks this question in the title of a painting about an intercaste love affair that ended in the brutal murder of a teenager. Like Aage, Bhise fell in love with a Maratha woman, Siddhi, who he met in art school, and they married despite family opposition. Now he dodges their four-year-old twins, Abir and Kabir, instructing them to stay away from his materials, as he paints in the midst of his fatherly life, grabbing every chance to work. 'There's no waiting for the right mood,' he says. He also spotlights the everyday joy and inspiration a community relies on in the midst of oppression, whether it's the annual gathering at Mumbai's Chaityabhumi, where Ambedkar was cremated; or humanitarian idols such as Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule; a euphoric indigo representation of a Jayanti; or the red wall of his parents' home. 'I want people to see Ambedkarite lives,' he says. 'Our houses are also different, our food, our literature, our living style, the colour palette…' Recently, his paintings have been displayed at prestigious venues such as Art Dubai and Art Basel. Coming up are Bergen Assembly in Norway and Frieze London, among many others. 'My works were shown in 20 group shows last year,' he says, still slightly incredulous about the growing interest in his art. It was after the Noida show that the art world really embraced Bhise's stories. All the years of working with a courier company until he took a big leap to follow his passion and study art, and then a long stint as an art teacher and tutor, have finally paid off. Now he can devote all his time to painting the histories that nobody told us about. The writer is a Bengaluru-based journalist and the co-founder of India Love Project on Instagram.
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Poetry and politics, in love and war
Representative image Faiz's work endures because its core is humanism A heartbroken teenager, a lecturer in English who was drawn to Marxism, a pioneer of subcontinent's political poetry, a supporter of Iran's Islamic Revolution but not an Islamist, and finally self-exiled in Beirut after General Zia executed Bhutto, Faiz always said it was the early years that shaped the poet in him. Aur bhi dukh hain zamane mein mohabbat ke siva, rahaten aur bhi hain vasl ki rahat ke siva, mujh se pahli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang (The world has other problems…other comforts than a lover's embrace. So, my love, don't ask I love you like I once did). That's Faiz marrying romance and politics. In 1932, Angarey (Fire), an anthology of mostly feminist short stories, was banned but inspired the Progressive Writers Association, of which Faiz was an integral part. He left the army in 1947 to edit the left-leaning The Pakistan Times, disillusioned by Partition's communal violence – Ye daagh daagh ujala ye shab-gazida sahar, vo intizaar tha jis ka ye vo sahar to nahin (This light stained by darkness is like dawn tainted by dusk. This isn't the dawn we awaited). Arrested in 1951 for the conspiracy to overthrow Pakistan's Liaquat Ali government, he published two books from jail, Dast-e Saba and Zindan Nama. He never gave up on hope: Qafas udaas hai yaaro saba se kuchh to kaho. Kahin to bahr-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale (The cage is sad and silent. Say something to the breeze. For god's sake, let's talk about my beloved). On release four years on, he found Pakistan had distanced itself from the Soviets, his inspiration, and aligned with America, which he despised. In 1974 Bangladesh, at Mujibur Rahman's request, he composed, Ham ki thahre ajnabi itni mudaraton ke baad. Phir banenge ashna kitni mulaqaton ke baad (Despite the hospitality, we remain strangers, and who knows how many meetings it will take to become friends again). Once Zia arrested Bhutto, Faiz self-exiled to Beirut as editor of Lotus – a magazine to promote non-Eurocentric Asian and African writing. But Faiz felt uprooted, longing for his people: Mere dil, mere musafir, hua phir se hukm sadir, ki vatan-badar hon hum tum (My heart, my traveller, the order is issued again, we are exiled again). His most popular work, Hum Dekhenge, is a poem of dissent. Some find it anti-Hinduism – it's just as anti-Islam. Inspired by Iran's Islamic revolution, sourced from Quran's Surah al-Waqi'ah – the inevitability of Qayamat (doomsday) – experts are still divided over Hum Dekhenge's message. A literal translation of key lines: 'Idols would be removed from the Kaaba to establish Allah's rule.' But these could also mean: 'Every idol – false gods and tyrants – will be removed from the house of God that is earth.' Faiz was no Islamist but simply charmed by the people's fight to depose the Shah. The poem's climax, Utthega anal haq ka nara, jo mai bhi hu or tum bhi ho. Bus raj karegi khalke khuda jo mai bhi hu or tum bhi ho. Anal haq means 'I am the truth.' In Semitic religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, there's strict duality between God and his creation. In contrast, the Sufi anal haq resonates with Advait concept of aham brahmasmi or 'I am one with God'. The poem's message then is that humans are the ultimate truth – divinity is within humanity, hence the divine right to self-rule.
The Print
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Faiz's ‘Hum Dekhenge' recited at Vira Sathidar memorial event, wife Pushpa & 2 others booked
The event, held last week in memory of human rights activist Vira Sathidar, featured the recitation of 'Hum Dekhenge', a celebrated Urdu nazm that Faiz wrote in 1979 as a critique of General Zia-ul-Haq's authoritarian rule in Pakistan. The FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint by Nagpur resident Dattatray Shirke that they recited a Pakistani poet's words 'at a time when the country valiantly fought Pakistani forces' after the Pahalgam terror attack. Mumbai: The Nagpur Police has booked social activist Pushpa Sathidar over the recital of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poetry at a commemorative event she organised in the city for her husband, actor Vira Sathidar. Shirke's complaint, which ThePrint has seen, said, 'At a time when the country valiantly fought Pakistani forces, the radical left in Nagpur were busy singing Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poem. Through the poem it is said that we have a fascist government and 'takht hilane ki jarurat hai' (there is a need to shake up the throne), meaning the government should be changed,' the complainant said. The police have registered an FIR against Pushpa Sathidar and two others. According to the FIR copy, which also ThePrint has accessed, the complainant referred to a news report in which a speaker at the event is quoted as saying, 'Due to this song, the powers were shaken. Similarly, even in our country, it's time to shake the throne. We are going through fascist times. These times are snatching our freedom of expression.' Pushpa Sathidar has been booked under sections 152 (act that excites secession, armed rebellion, or subversive activities, or encourages separatist feelings) 196 (promoting enmity or disharmony) 353 (public mischief) and others of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. 'We received the complaint along with what sections to be included and we did so. The further investigation is going on and we will analyse whether the sections are necessary or need amending, and (based on that we) would take a further call,' inspector Rakhi Gedam of the Sitabardi police station told ThePrint. ThePrint reached Pushpa Sathidar's family lawyer Nihalsingh Rathod, but he refused to comment. The programme was organised 13 May by the Vira Sathidar Smriti Samanway Samiti in association with the Samata Kala Manch—a Mumbai-based Ambedkarite cultural collective advocating resistance through art. Vira Sathidar, a social activist, accomplished actor, writer and political thinker, died during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. Pushpa Sathidar is one of the organisers of the annual event. The Samata Kala Manch performed Faiz's poem at the event. The poem 'Hum Dekhenge' was written in 1979 by Faiz as a critique of General Zia-ul-Haq's authoritarian rule in Pakistan. The poem is used as an anthem of resistance and hope in the subcontinent. In the complaint filed 16 May, three days after the programme, Shirke alleged the performance and the accompanying speeches were inflammatory in nature. 'Samata Kala Manch is an extremist and controversial group. They even have a background of Naxalism. Just at a time when the entire country is standing behind the armed forces and opposing the terrorist attack by Pakistan in Pahalgam, here the Left extremist organisation Samata Kala Manch performed the poem written by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz,' Shirke says in his complaint. 'Naxalite organisations such as these through such events spread the thought of overthrowing democratically elected governments. So, the Samata Kala Manch at an event organized to remember Vira Sathidar sang the poem by a Pakistani poet and spread the provocative thought to dethrone the government',' he added further. So the event threatens the unity of the country and divide the society, the complaint further said. Gedam said that the police are investigating the matter and have started taking statements of Sathidar and others. No arrests have been made so far. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: There was more to Vira Sathidar than 'Court'. He fought caste with theatre for 40 years
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Who Was Veera Sathidar: The Rebel Voice of Voiceless
Nagpur: As controversy brews over the case filed against Pushpa Sathidar — wife of late actor-activist Veera Sathidar — over recitation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz 's poem 'Hum Dekhenge' at an event to mark his death anniversary in Nagpur on May 13, many are asking: Who was Veera Sathidar, and why does his memory continue to inspire resistance? Born as Vijay Vairagade in the Joginagar area of Wardha district, Sathidar never used his surname. He believed that surnames reveal caste identities and chose instead to call himself 'Veera Sathidar' - Veera, the comrade of the people's movement. A staunch Ambedkarite, Sathidar was a prominent voice in social justice struggles, known for his fearless journalism, passionate speeches, and activism. He edited the Marathi magazine 'Vidrohi' (The Rebel), which highlighted lives and struggles of the oppressed. Through his work, he advocated for Dalit rights , social equity, and constitutional values. Sathidar was deeply associated with the Republican Panther movement, working for the uplift of the marginalized. He was a frequent speaker at conferences across India, where his lectures on caste, discrimination, and democracy often stirred thought and action. While his activism earned him respect among grassroots movements, it was the critically acclaimed 2014 Marathi film 'Court' that brought him international recognition. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, the film scrutinised the judicial system and won the prestigious Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal) at the National Film Awards. Sathidar played the pivotal role of folk singer Narayan Kamble, a character loosely based on real-life activists targeted by the system. Despite the fame, Sathidar remained grounded in his mission. "Cinema was just one way to tell the truth. I was, and will always be, a part of the people's movement," he said in an interview with TOI then. Veera Sathidar passed away due to Covid-19 during the pandemic in May 2021. For many, his death anniversary is a reaffirmation of his ideals. The recent incident, where some speakers allegedly made anti-national remarks, has now shifted focus from homage to headlines. As legal proceedings unfold against Pushpa Sathidar, activists and artists across the country have voiced concern, calling it an attempt to silence dissent.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Who Sang ‘Hum Dekhenge' at Veera Sathidar Memorial? Nagpur cops don't know
1 2 Nagpur: Even a week after Nagpur police invoked the stringent Section 152 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), akin to sedition under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, against three persons for recitation of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz 's revolutionary 'nazm', " Hum Dekhenge ", they failed to identify who sang the Urdu couplets at the event in memory of acclaimed filmmaker Veera Sathidar. Though Pushpa Sathidar, wife of the late filmmaker, was charged with endangering national sovereignty and promoting communal disharmony under Section 152 BNS, she did not recite the poem, she was only the organiser. Talking to TOI, senior inspector of Sitabuldi police station, Vitthal Singh Rajput, said, "We are trying to identify the participants of the event, including the woman from 'Samta Kala Manch' who recited Faiz's poem. We have the recording of the event, the probe is ongoing, and statements will be recorded. Those who recited the couplets and raised anti-establishment slogans are likely to have gone underground, but they will be tracked down soon. No arrests have been made yet. A woman inspector, Rakhi Gedam, is leading the probe." The memorial on May 13 under the banner of Veera Sathidar Smruti Samanvay Samiti, was co-organised by Samta Kala Manch, a Leftist cultural outfit. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Sofrendo com varizes? Faça esse truque imediatamente em casa Fim das Varizes Undo Veera Sathidar, who died of Covid in April 2021, was known for his stellar role in the film 'Court', which was India's official entry at the 2016 Academy Awards. The recitation of "Hum Dekhenge", a poem associated with resistance and protest, led to an FIR being filed at Sitabuldi police station against Pushpa Sathidar and two others under Section 152 of BNS. The complaint, lodged by right-wing activist Dattatreya Shirke, was prompted by a YouTube video of the event, which also featured a speaker praising the poem's call for an uprising against what was described as an "intolerant and tyrannical regime". The controversy reignited discussions on Faiz's 'nazm', previously linked to anti-CAA protests, and its perceived anti-establishment undertones. The event also drew attention amid surveillance on socio-cultural groups suspected of indulging in subversive activity. Pushpa Sathidar, who is continuing her husband's legacy of advocating for the oppressed, organised the memorial to honour Veera's contributions as an actor, writer, and political thinker. The event saw over 100 attendees, including members of Left organisations, and allegedly featured a speech critical of the proposed Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill. Nagpur police's inability to identify the singer a week after the FIR has raised questions about the investigation's progress, with critics pointing to broader concerns about freedom of expression and use of stringent laws like Section 152 of BNS, which replaces the colonial-era sedition law.
