Neeraj Ghaywan responds to Vivek Agnihotri's Dalit tweet; Twitter lines up in support of the Masaan director

Acclaimed filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan rose to global recognition with his 2015 film _Masaan_ that won numerous prestigious awards nationally as well as globally. His film dealt with two stories, of which one revolved around a young couple belonging to diametrically opposite castes; Ghaywan was credited with beautifully portraying the socio-economic ramification that arises out of inter-caste relationships in India. The director, on 3 January, took to Twitter and responded to a post by fellow filmmaker Vivek Agnihgotri (Hate Story [2012], Buddha in a Traffic Jam [2016]) who showed concerns with travelling with a Dalit co-passenger in the past on a flight. He rues about how this “lower caste leader” gets to sit on 1A (which is a business class seat). Ghaywan responded to the status by saying he himself is a Dalit and has made a good life for his own, without playing the so-called “caste” card.

This argument got even more relevance and attention owing to the inter-caste clashes in various parts of Maharashtra over 2 and 3 January:

pic.twitter.com/5beUNgFd3b

— meghnad (Nerds ka Parivaar) (@Memeghnad) January 3, 2018

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Firstpost’s contributor and film critic Anna MM Vetticad also tweeted in response:

You are being too kind to a resentful, casteist creep. If you offer him your seat I will sit on dharna outside your house in protest :)

— Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) January 3, 2018

Wow Neeraj 💥

— atul kasbekar (@atulkasbekar) January 3, 2018