News anchor Kumar stays quietly courageous amid nationalist hysteria in Vinay Shukla\u2019s tense documentary \u2013 but its final note of hope has been undermined by recent events<\/p>\n
Events have overtaken this sombre documentary, which, though interesting and relevant, doesn\u2019t encompass important recent developments. It is about the sinister pro-Modi nationalist hysteria in India that infected the country\u2019s quasi-Fox TV channels, and one moderate journalist who politely stood against it: NDTV\u2019s news anchor Ravish Kumar. This was especially true in the unbearably tense period before the 2019 election in which Modi was victorious, when the Indian government launched an airstrike on Balakot in Pakistan<\/a> in retaliation for a terrorist attack on an Indian police convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir.<\/p>\n Indian TV\u2019s shrill pundits denounced traitors everywhere, and this documentary by Vinay Shukla details Kumar\u2019s quiet courage in just carrying on with his reports on the widespread poverty that Modi was ignoring (preferring to stoke diversionary fascist fervour), keeping his cool amid a barrage of abuse and death threats. The pressure on NDTV and its journalists is shown getting worse, with someone having a gloomy leaving party with cake almost every week.<\/p>\n