Nitin Pamnani's Black Pamphlets, set against the backdrop of Delhi University elections, tries to find the line where student and mainstream politics blur

Nitin Pamnani's Black Pamphlets, set against the backdrop of Delhi University elections, tries to find the line where student and mainstream politics blur

What's an election without the show of money, power and muscle? Fiction? Illusion? Or a Bollywood film script minus the masala? For Nitin K Pamnani, director of Black Pamphlets, a film dealing with Delhi University elections, it's the mark of a democracy.

A still from Black Pamphlets, a film on University elections

In his 84-minute documentary, Nitin takes viewers to the heavily politicised corridors of Delhi University, where each year, nearly 80,000 students directly elect their representatives. The elections are considered a training ground for future politicos. "Why should an election at the university level be considered a channel to mainstream politics?

Isn't that the reason why elected representatives get more involved with national issues than those at the student-level? And if the so-called 'elected' representatives are only working for students' welfare, why do powerful political parties at central and state levels back them?" questions the DU alumni who, contested Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections in 2002. His film is an attempt to answer at least some of those questions.

The film's opening scenes takes you through the landmark campuses of Universities like St Stephen's, Dayal Singh, Deshbandhu, shifting to the 12-day electoral nautanki where 'money, power and muscle' decide the fate of candidates. "The contestants have no vision; there's an absence of idea with which the elections will be contested. The only agenda is to be anti-establishment," adds Nitin, who has an MA in Hindi from Hindu College.
Though the film is a dig at the 'showbaazi' of DUSU elections, the director hasn't lost faith in the sanctity of a democratic system. When asked if a weak leader who lacks material and muscle strength can safeguard the interests of his junta, he asks, "How can you be sure that money, and not will, makes you a strong leader? Look at Jawaharlal Nehru University, where the elections are conducted by the students, and for the students."
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