The Hindu : National : A film on Jyoti Basu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 09, 2005

National

National

A film on Jyoti Basu

Staff Reporter

Gautam Ghose

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was repentant about imposing the Emergency and had confessed this to veteran Communist ideologue Jyoti Basu. Though she thought of giving a shock treatment to the nation, things went out of hand in the party and administration.

The personal anecdotes and revelations form part of the documentary on Jyoti Basu made by director and cinematographer Gautam Ghose. The director was here to attend the International Travel Film Festival.

At a meet-the-press organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club here on Wednesday, Mr. Ghose said the lengthy interview was interspersed with the CPI(M) leader's recollection of personal and historical incidents.

During his career spanning six decades, Mr. Basu had shared his thoughts with several leaders from Subhas Chandra Bose to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Mrs. Gandhi had talked about her sons too.

Mr. Basu had recalled Bose's remark that "politics is a battlefield and not a bed of roses." The Communist leader was convinced about the truth of the statement from his own experience.

Mr. Ghose interviewed Mr. Basu last year when the latter was 91 years old and was out of power.

Mr. Ghose said a person could not be objective and critical while in power. "The man in power is surrounded by a system. When I interviewed him, Mr. Basu was critical of issues. He was reviewing things from a different perspective."

Asked whether Mr. Basu was critical of the party, he said the Communist leader was a partyman with unflinching faith in the party system.

The director is planning to release the documentary in Kerala, which he described as a State with high political awareness.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National