Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the world is family" is a universalist idea that competes with dominant, exclusivist Hindu notions of caste. Anand grew up in a milieu that questioned the latter. The family's elders had fought for India's Independence but rarely spoken about it. 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity', words enshrined in India's Constitution, were subconsciously internalized.
As his parents aged, Anand began to film with whatever equipment was at hand. Soon birthdays and family gatherings gave way to oral history. Revisiting home movie footage a decade after his parents had passed, was a revelation. Today self-confessed supremacists whose ideology once inspired the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, are in power. As they rewrite India's history, memories of the past have become more precious than mere personal nostalgia.
"Patwardhan's film is an act of reclamation of a universalist value system, a reminder of the capaciousness of Indian cosmopolitanism, an alternative vision to the prevailing toxic political climate. Along the way, the filmmaker provides an extraordinary glimpse into his private self." —Nandini Ramnath, Scroll.in
"The collective forces of history merge seamlessly with the minutiae of domesticity in veteran documentarian Anand Patwardhan's new film, The World Is Family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam), a deeply personal and masterful cinematic essay that pays homage to the principles and ideologies that his family bequeathed to him." —Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV
"One of the most moving films this year...A deeply affecting, immensely powerful cinematic lamentation of lost stories and details, and a desperate act of personal and political preservation before time runs out." —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety
"The World Is Family is a precious piece of oral history to hold on to at a time when recorded history in India is itself under threat, being rewritten or erased. But more than anything else, it is about joie de vivre as well as a stoic acceptance of aging, illness and death." —Namrata Joshi, Screen Daily
