Mainstream movies have often ignored the caste question when it comes to portraying issues on screen. However, a new crop of filmmakers aren’t shying away from talking about the casteism prevalent in the Indian society, through their films.
Last year was a tough one as we endured the second wave of the pandemic playing havoc with our lives. But, we also saw a slew of movies which fiercely asserted their anti-caste stance. Here is a list of five films which made me question my caste privilege as a Savarna person:
Karnan
A powerful tale of defiance against oppression, Mari Selvaraj’s Karnan had Dhanush playing a character hailing from a small “backward caste” village who fights back against the oppressive establishment and rampant casteism.
Sarpatta Parambarai
Did you know that this movie directed by Pa. Ranjith showing a Dalit boxer’s fight for dignity and self-realisation, received a special mention in The New York Times list of must-watch, international movies on OTT?
Jai Bhim
Based on the plight of the Irula tribe, TJ Gnanavel’s Suriya-starrer became the highest-ranked movie of all time on IMDB. Did you know that a song in the film created by rapper Arivu, used Dr Ambedkar’s voice in it?
Ajeeb Daastaans: Geeli Pucchi
Neeraj Ghaywan’s “Geeli Pucchi”, one of the stories of this Hindi anthology, told the story of a queer, Dalit, working class woman, portrayed by Konkona Sen Sharma, navigating the casteist and heteronormative ideas of society.
Uppena
Buchi Babu Sana’s film had one of the biggest openings in 2021 for Telugu cinema. It is the story of a Dalit, Christian fisherman and an “upper caste” Hindu woman, who fall in love.
Can you think of more such films which tackled the social evil of casteism in a sensitive and nuanced manner?