Shortly after midnight, in the early hours of September 11, famous Australian filmmaker David Bradbury had arrived in India to travel the country for a few weeks with his children Nakeita, aged 21, and Omar, 14. On reaching the Chennai airport at 1 am, however, David, a two-time Oscar award nominee, was stopped by the immigration officials, while Nakeita and Omar were allowed to pass through. He was then taken to a room in the airport, where he was allegedly held in detention for 24 hours before being forced to fly back to Thailand, where the trio had come from.
David had to part with his children and hope that they’d be able to travel across India on their own, including a trip to Varanasi to give a ‘Hindu farewell’ to his deceased partner Treena Lenthall, who was Omar’s mother. David never got an explanation on why he was not allowed to enter the country. However, he believes that it may have to do with his documentary, covering the protests of the people of Tamil Nadu against the Kudankulam nuclear plant in 2012.
