Making Waves: Anand Patwardhan, Latin America, and the Invention of Indian Third Cinema

Using the early films and writings of Anand Patwardhan, this article examines the influence of New Latin American Cinema films and theory on his work, which was instrumental in creating a space for independent documentary in India. Patwardhan turned to Latin American revolutionary cinema as an alternative to the Griersonian tradition adopted by the state-funded Films Division, and in doing so, challenged the institutions dominating Indian documentary film production, distribution and censorship, all of which continued to function long after independence as they had in the colonial period, to which their origins could be traced.