An Insignificant Man
In 2011, protests began over the cancer of political corruption and the widespread exploitation of citizens in India. The movement grew as these protestors championed the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill, a sweeping piece of legislation which called for thorough investigations of government corruption. Lacking a sufficient structure to advocate for the bill's passage and serve as the true voice of the people, they formed a new political power: the Aad Aadmi Party, otherwise known as the Common Man's Party. The thrilling feature-length documentary An Insignificant Man examines the glories and growing pains of this exciting new people's movement, and the man who serves as its passionate and controversial leader.
The party is headed by Arvind Kejriwal, the ultimate political outsider, and highly experienced strategist Yogendra Yadav. The filmmakers begin tracking them a full year before the election as they mount a grassroots effort to galvanize support from the people. They go door to door from one city to another, and hear their grievances on a number of issues including price gouging and police brutality.
Without a doubt, Kejriwal is an essential figure whose unafraid to speak truth to power, and he appears to be the agent of change that the people desperately need. As the film progresses, we begin to witness other aspects of Kejriwal's personality emerge as intolerance and inflexibility threaten to derail the party's forward locomotion. Interestingly, the real political superstar seems to be Yadav, the man behind the curtain who functions with great clarity and sophistication within a complicated political framework.
Part of the film's appeal lies in the clashes between both of their approaches to campaigning, and in the moments when idealism can become compromised under the weight of political process.
An Insignificant Man does not delve into the disillusionment that gripped the party starting in 2014 nor does it feature interviews with talking heads reflecting on events of the recent past. This is vital and urgent in-the-moment filmmaking of the highest order. The cameras are capturing the swelling of a revolution from the moment of its inception, and viewers will be transfixed as they witness history taking shape right before their eyes.
Directed by: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla
CHANGE IS POSSIBLE AND HOPEFULLY INEVITABLE!!!
Just like any other doc or story, I'm only willing to pick up the good parts from it. This man literally gave up his upper-middle-class autocratic life to bring about a change in the world. Now what happened later is just the nuance of life, and each one of us are subject to taking wrong actions under unfortunate circumstances.
At the end of the day, I am inspired by this man to speak up for myself and to value my life more than my prized possessions. I am motivated to bring about change in whatever way I can, no matter what happens to my life.
An individual no matter how successful in his career is, at the end his impact is only measured by his contributions to society.
Jai Hind!
Allow me to watch
Excellent documentary, although clearly told from the AAP's point of view, and lionizing Arvind Kejriwal, at least it did not entirely shy away from showing the blemishes. A key scene is when Kejriwal is talking with the volunteers, and wanting to keep ultimate control over candidate selection to himself, resisting their demands for democracy within the party. Both he and Yogendra Yadav ultimately appear to choose political expediency over principle, albeit sometimes (as when choosing to work with the Congress Party to form a government) with the support of most of their followers. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It is too bad that the AAP did not focus more on the plight of peasants having their lands seized, a genuine violation of the rights of many poor people in India, and instead chose to focus on state-socialist government handouts of free water and cheap electricity. Hopefully others will come along who are more committed to principle, both in terms of practicing bottom-up governance within their own organization, and in terms of fighting against real injustice rather than taking the easy path of promising people free stuff from government, which not only ends up spawning corruption, but must be paid for by robbing other people.
My family donated to Anna andolan and when he was on hunger strike. Unfortunately we all feel cheated by this corrupt man who recently sold all morals and destroyed a faithful new political alternative called AamAadmiParty. As reported by many people including his own say he sold Rajyasabha seat to businessman who was few days ago in his opposition and blamed kejriwal to misuse all donations.
I have zero faith Kejriwal and also in media like this which portray him as hero. He will loose elections as outcome of anger like i have.
Excellent documentary. Could say more, but the work says all I have to say on it.
Another so call "Common Man" that takes the role of being the voice of the people.
Once he gets what he's striving for then he'll turn his party into Socialist Party of The Common Man.