🎬 Screening: Of Times There Were Before – A Portrait of Romila Thapar + Q&A with Eshan Sharma

🎬✨ 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 ✨🎬
📜 𝗔 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿 📜

🌏 ✊ 𝗔 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿, 𝗽𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮
Shaped by the progressive and left-leaning ideals of the generation that built independent India, 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿 transformed how we understand early India. She looks past kings and dynasties to society, economy, caste, religion and the everyday lives of ordinary people. 🌾

📖 She has always insisted that history must rest on evidence, not myth. For decades she has stood firmly against the use of the past to divide people along religious lines, and she has argued that India’s history is a story of many communities, exchanges and dissenting voices. 🕊️

🏛️ As one of the founding figures of the Centre for Historical Studies at 𝗝𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝗵𝗿𝘂 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆, she helped train generations of historians to ask critical questions.

🙅‍♀️ She twice declined the 𝗣𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮 𝗕𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗻, one of India’s highest civilian honours, because she believed scholars should stay independent of the state. In 2008 she was awarded the 𝗞𝗹𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 for lifetime achievement in the humanities. 🏅

👩‍🏫 𝗔 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗽
Romila Thapar entered academic history in the 1950s, at a time when very few women did, and went on to become one of its most respected and most debated voices. 💪 She has faced fierce public attacks for her views, yet she has never stopped defending academic freedom, free thought and the citizen’s right to question those in power. 🔥

💬 Into her nineties, she remains a public intellectual in the truest sense: curious, outspoken and unafraid. 🌟

🕰️ At 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘆-𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿, having lived through much of the making of modern India, 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿 stands at an unusual distance from the past she has spent a lifetime studying.

🏡 Filmed at her home in 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗵𝗶, the documentary begins with one simple question:

❓ 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲? ❓

📚 Moving beyond the authority of her scholarship and the public image built around it, the film explores her 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 and 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆.

💫 What emerges is an intimate portrait of a life still in conversation with its own time.

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🎥 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿

👤 𝗘𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮 is an independent filmmaker and the founder of 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗮𝗻: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 🏛️

🎞️ 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 is the 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗺 in a planned series of documentaries on Indian historians who have shaped our understanding of the past.

🔍 Through the series, he hopes to go beyond scholarship and public profiles to explore the lives, memories, ideas and intellectual journeys of the people behind some of the most influential historical writing of our time.

#OfTimesThereWereBefore #RomilaThapar #Documentary #IndianHistory #Karwaan #EshanSharma #FilmScreening

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