The effect of political and religious indoctrination on young minds resembles a slow-release poison. Unfolding in observational vignettes, Pankaj Johar and Sunaina Kapoor’s thought-provoking documentary centres on Vidya Mutth, a prestigious Hindu school in the holy city of Varanasi, India, where sectarian beliefs are drilled into its students, all in the name of cultural preservation.
The film opens with controversial speeches made by the school’s spiritual leader, Guru Avimuktesh, who advocates the abolition of religious freedom, and for Indian Muslims to either convert to Hinduism or leave for Pakistan. A prominent Hindu figure with a large following, he personally oversees the entrance exam, a sequence captured in dynamic handheld shots. While boys take the test, their parents look on with apprehension and anxiety; to be accepted would be an honour, not only for their child but for the whole family.
For those who do get in to Vidya Mutth, what follows is far from a glorious, enlightening experience. Focusing on two new entrants called Satyarth and Hari, the film documents their daily routines, which largely revolve around Sanskrit classes. The learning of this ancient script, supposedly to maintain a linguistic tradition, is actually in service of religious dogmatism; in between classes, Guru Avimuktesh continues to preach Islamophobic and casteist ideas, packaged as fact.
Moreover, though fanatically strict on its Hindu teachings, the school pays little attention to the mental and physical wellbeing of the pupils. Scenes of the school’s lavish celebration of its leader’s birthday are intercut with the students’ ramshackle living quarters. Even more shocking than this are the changes we observe in the boys over the course of mere months. Once a fresh-faced youth with a gentle demeanour, Hari soon starts to parrot the guru’s intolerant ideology with terrifying conviction. Laying bare the mechanism of indoctrination, Johar and Kapoor’s film sounds an urgent alarm for a new generation growing up under the spell of extremism.
