Why: No filmmaker has documented India’s social and political history as minutely as 69-year-old Anand Patwardhan has in the last four decades. His most recent award-winning documentary Vivek (Reason) was in the making for almost half a decade. It is 4 hours and 8 parts long and calls into question the erosion of India’s secular fabric under the BJP regime. Patwardhan doesn’t hold back in bringing up the murders of rationalists such as Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, the connection of these crimes to the militant-Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha, the violent attacks on Muslims and Dalits, and other disturbing events of the last few years. Patwardhan is disruptive not only in his fearless filmmaking but also in his decision to release this film on YouTube just a few weeks before the 2019 general election. Patwardhan cares not just about cinema, but also about the country.
His Super Deluxe disrupted the notion of Tamil mainstream cinema.
She’s given us fabulously messy female characters in a short span.
Lucifer became the first Malayalam film to earn over Rs 200 cr.