Documentaries just need a chance
There are people who make films that can make a difference in the lives of the Subcontinent´s millions. They produce in a particular genre which the mass public hardly ever gets to see. Which is a pity, for unlike all other media, this kind of film has the ability to force change; it has the power to alert, to raise to anger, to energise to action. This kind of film goes under the unprepossessing title of ´documentary'.
While it is true that the documentary has always been treated as a poor cousin the world over, in South Asia it is hardly even allowed in through the door. Documentary-makers make up a minuscule minority among those who work with the moving image in these countries. India has the most documentarists, but this is perhaps only because it of its size. Nepal has barely begun to discover the documentary, while the committed non-fiction filmmakers in all of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka can be counted on one's fingers. This absence of the documentary among what the people get to view is cause for anguish for those who understand the direct link between what people know and how they act.
The documentary uses celluloid film or, increasingly, videotape, to document a situation or a story. To that extent, filmmakers are journalists with information to share and opinions to express. They are quite different from the propagandist who makes films for government information and broadcasting departments, the journalist who provides straight reportage, the technician who makes films of touristic destinations, or the archivist who shoots development projects.