The Maoist insurrection of India

The Maoist insurrection of India is an important phenomenon in recent times. According to the Indian government, the insurrection has posed grave threat to the internal security. So the state had gone all out to thrash the movement militarily without any result. It spread like a wildfire and a vast swathe of central India simply turned into a virtual red corridor.

Almost fifteen years ago, when the insurrection was unfolding, noted documentary filmmaker, Soumitra Dastidar set about to capture the contours of it from a close encounter with the guerrillas in the Junglemahal of Chhattisgarh. Initially he travelled with them for more than a month; and took footage of the Maoist lairs hitherto unseen witnessing People’s War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), the two main outfits of the movement, merging to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Having travelled extensively to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, the film “My Days with Peoples Liberation Army” ultimately took fifteen years to come to its final stage. It is an important document of this radical movement in India.

In the present context, when many untoward events are happening in that area, this film will give people the opportunity to see rare glimpses of the daily lives of the guerrillas, their viewpoints and ideological mooring. In a first person account, Soumitra describes his unique journey and explains many nuances of the movement with flair.