Has anyone heard about “Article 15” of the constitution? I think it was only known to those who studied law or those who read the Constitution of India. But, now, thanks to the trailer of ‘Article 15’ Indians must be well acquainted with this important article – it deals with the fundamental rights of the citizens of India.
In the actual text, article 15 of the constitution says that “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth.”
I can say that this movie is not going to be an ordinary movie. The trailer is trending on YouTube with millions of views and everyone is praising it. Some are calling it revolutionary and some are talking about the courage of its creators to even think of making a movie on this subject.
The movie has raised issues which people rarely talk about in India. It has sensationalised an issue which even the media has refrained from including in its breaking news. Many may have guessed that the movie is about the caste system prevalent in India after watching the trailer and some might assume that’s nothing new. But, I think, it is about more than that.
According to my interpretation of the trailer, it is a story about a gang rape of Dalit girls and the case is investigated by the protagonist, a police officer. The crime is committed by an upper caste contractor only because the female workers demand an increment of Rs. 3 in their wages. The trailer shows the carelessness of the police and the insensitive attitude of people towards such cases. In India, it is not uncommon for victims or families to be harassed while reporting rape cases.
In another scene of the trailer, a group of policemen are talking about their castes and sub-castes. Someone is a tough Brahmin and someone is a soft one, someone is an upper Dalit and someone is a lower Dalit. In a final scene, the protagonist is explaining the seriousness of the gang rape to his insensitive senior officer by comparing the value of Rs, 3 with the drops of mineral water that the senior is drinking.
This trailer shows how easy it is for anyone to harass someone from a so-called lower caste. I am not surprised that Rs. 3 could be the reason behind the rape, because, in reality, crimes against lower caste women or religious minorities are common in India. I believe rape, assault, and murder are often committed only to show one’s superiority over another in terms of caste or religion.
The trailer of the movie shows us that India has been divided into thousands of sub-castes where no one is equal. A long hierarchy has been set up where people of the upper strata consider it their right to exploit people from the ‘lower castes’. It almost seems like they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and the legal system is ready to protect them. Dalit women are tolerating even more as they are standing at the crossroads of patriarchy and the caste system. They can’t go anywhere for help and are forced to live at the mercy of the upper caste.
Most of us consider the caste system to be evil. But, we have seen it only in terms of untouchability or inter-caste marriage; we can’t even think about the actual brutality meted out by the caste system.
Such stories are useful in spreading awareness among people about how a small word such as”caste”, which we use very casually in our daily lives, is creating fear, destruction, and violence amongst oppressed communities. I hope this movie will make us take the reality of the caste system more seriously; a reality that many of us are ignorant about.