<p>Journalist Gauri Lankesh, shot dead at her doorstep four years ago, is inspiring several film projects.</p>.<p>“Even today, people call her an urban Naxalite, without understanding that she fought to bring radicals into the mainstream and make them give up armed struggle. This means she was fighting for peace and for their rights. They also call her anti-Hindu. She was a Hindu herself. She was never against Hinduism but against Hindutva, and not many people seem to know the difference,” Kavitha Lankesh, Gauri’s sister, tells <span class="italic">Showtime</span>.</p>.<p>Gauri’s fourth death anniversary falls on September 5. She was shot to death by three unidentified men outside her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in 2017.</p>.<p>There are many books already written on Gauri. ‘Our Gauri’ by Pradeep Deepu, is the only documentary made on her till date.</p>.<p>Kavitha breaks the news that she has been commissioned by Free Press Unlimited, The Netherlands, to make a documentary on Gauri. “Four people were selected across the world to make a documentary on journalists who were assassinated and my extensive and in-depth proposal was selected,” she says.</p>.<p>For the documentary, Kavitha is collecting footage and plans to shoot across India soon. “The film will be screened worldwide,” she says.</p>.<p>Filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh, the youngest of three siblings, says Gauri was a friend, sister and second mother to him. He was always intrigued by the ‘complexities’ in her personality. “If I have to make a film on her, even though I am her brother, I will have to do a lot of research around what happened during her last days and study her life in-depth because she never led a simple life. I would want to delve into what she was going through. She was a loner during her last days,” says Indrajit.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong><span class="bold">Friends remember Gauri</span></strong></p>.<p>Chandan Gowda, Ramakrishna Hegde Chair professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change, has edited and co-translated ‘The Way I See It: A Gauri Lankesh Reader (Navayana and DC Books, 2017)’ a compilation of Gauri’s writings from across her journalistic career. Chandan says, “When the publishers approached me to compile a book of Gauri’s writings, I agreed right away. Since the shock about her death was felt nationwide and even abroad, and so little was known about her outside Karnataka, I felt I owed it to her to do it. I felt that such a book ought to serve broadly as her autobiography: it needed to include her political writings as well as those on her family and friends. Tracking down her early journalistic writings in English and coordinating across multiple translators within a short deadline were challenges.” The anthology has also appeared in translation in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. </p>.<p>Pradeep Deepu, documentary filmmaker, who made ‘Our Gauri’ in 2017, says it was grief and shock that inspired him to make the film. “Barely a few days after Gauri was gone, there were hate messages on social media. People started talking negatively about her. Protests erupted across the country. Initially, I was angry. But I decided that I must tell people the story of who Gauri really was and that’s how the film was made,” says Pradeep.</p>.<p>The film was completed in 20 days. “The film has had more than 600 screenings across the country, apart from online viewership. That was the best tribute I could give one of the city’s foremost woman editors and an activist who took up real causes and fought for them,” says Pradeep.</p>.<p><strong>Feature film on Gauri long overdue</strong></p>.<p>National award-winning film critic N Manu Chakravarthy says a feature film on Gauri is long overdue. Making a film on those who represent radical ideological political positions is definitely challenging, he observes.</p>.<p>“One may not entirely subscribe to their views but they give an opportunity to debate a range of ethical issues about our political system and society. It needs courage and conviction to make such films. It means having the daring to risk being persecuted by the State and hounded by society. A film on Gauri Lankesh presents such great risks,” he says.</p>
<p>Journalist Gauri Lankesh, shot dead at her doorstep four years ago, is inspiring several film projects.</p>.<p>“Even today, people call her an urban Naxalite, without understanding that she fought to bring radicals into the mainstream and make them give up armed struggle. This means she was fighting for peace and for their rights. They also call her anti-Hindu. She was a Hindu herself. She was never against Hinduism but against Hindutva, and not many people seem to know the difference,” Kavitha Lankesh, Gauri’s sister, tells <span class="italic">Showtime</span>.</p>.<p>Gauri’s fourth death anniversary falls on September 5. She was shot to death by three unidentified men outside her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in 2017.</p>.<p>There are many books already written on Gauri. ‘Our Gauri’ by Pradeep Deepu, is the only documentary made on her till date.</p>.<p>Kavitha breaks the news that she has been commissioned by Free Press Unlimited, The Netherlands, to make a documentary on Gauri. “Four people were selected across the world to make a documentary on journalists who were assassinated and my extensive and in-depth proposal was selected,” she says.</p>.<p>For the documentary, Kavitha is collecting footage and plans to shoot across India soon. “The film will be screened worldwide,” she says.</p>.<p>Filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh, the youngest of three siblings, says Gauri was a friend, sister and second mother to him. He was always intrigued by the ‘complexities’ in her personality. “If I have to make a film on her, even though I am her brother, I will have to do a lot of research around what happened during her last days and study her life in-depth because she never led a simple life. I would want to delve into what she was going through. She was a loner during her last days,” says Indrajit.</p>.<p class="CrossHead Rag"><strong><span class="bold">Friends remember Gauri</span></strong></p>.<p>Chandan Gowda, Ramakrishna Hegde Chair professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change, has edited and co-translated ‘The Way I See It: A Gauri Lankesh Reader (Navayana and DC Books, 2017)’ a compilation of Gauri’s writings from across her journalistic career. Chandan says, “When the publishers approached me to compile a book of Gauri’s writings, I agreed right away. Since the shock about her death was felt nationwide and even abroad, and so little was known about her outside Karnataka, I felt I owed it to her to do it. I felt that such a book ought to serve broadly as her autobiography: it needed to include her political writings as well as those on her family and friends. Tracking down her early journalistic writings in English and coordinating across multiple translators within a short deadline were challenges.” The anthology has also appeared in translation in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. </p>.<p>Pradeep Deepu, documentary filmmaker, who made ‘Our Gauri’ in 2017, says it was grief and shock that inspired him to make the film. “Barely a few days after Gauri was gone, there were hate messages on social media. People started talking negatively about her. Protests erupted across the country. Initially, I was angry. But I decided that I must tell people the story of who Gauri really was and that’s how the film was made,” says Pradeep.</p>.<p>The film was completed in 20 days. “The film has had more than 600 screenings across the country, apart from online viewership. That was the best tribute I could give one of the city’s foremost woman editors and an activist who took up real causes and fought for them,” says Pradeep.</p>.<p><strong>Feature film on Gauri long overdue</strong></p>.<p>National award-winning film critic N Manu Chakravarthy says a feature film on Gauri is long overdue. Making a film on those who represent radical ideological political positions is definitely challenging, he observes.</p>.<p>“One may not entirely subscribe to their views but they give an opportunity to debate a range of ethical issues about our political system and society. It needs courage and conviction to make such films. It means having the daring to risk being persecuted by the State and hounded by society. A film on Gauri Lankesh presents such great risks,” he says.</p>
