Anti Caste

Indian cinema and the Dalit identity: In Dhanush's 2019 film Asuran, the rise of a new national hero 

Asuran is a story of a Dalit, Sivasamy (played by Dhanush), and his family. It is an unusual story in that it doesn’t succumb to violence or revenge, but rises about it.

'How can you be an artiste and not reflect the times?' The inside story of Arivu's fight against oppression

From ‘Sandai Seivom’ (Let's Fight, a protest song against the CAA) or 'Snowlin' (about the teenage girl shot dead during the Sterlite protest), Arivu's music — like his existence — is political.

With Maadathy — An Unfairy Tale, Leena Manimekalai skewers the blindness of dominant castes to oppression

Maadathy is a story woven from the day-to-day lives of Puthirai Vannar women. Maadathy is also the name of one of the mother goddesses worshipped in rural Tamil Nadu.

Dalit writing, global contexts: In ND Rajkumar's poetry, echoes of folk rhythms, myths and local history

ND Rajkumar's poetic voice is distinct, for it carries the stories of his ancestors, who did not bow down to their oppressors – oppressors who wanted to erase their existence from history. His style, on the other hand, has the rhythm of a folk artist

Dalit writing, global contexts: S Joseph combines critique and compassion in My Sister’s Bible

In Communist Kerala, S Joseph emerged as the forerunner of the Malayalam Dalit literary tradition. He was able to challenge Brahminical poetic traditions while offering verses that soothed the wounds of the lower caste people

Dalit writing, global contexts: Neerav Patel's Severed Tongue Speaks Out skewers casteism, with humour

Even as a bilingual writer (English and Gujarati) and despite being possessed of a poetic imagination far more creative than his contemporary Arun Kolatkar (upper caste, and bilingual), Neerav Patel wasn’t exempt from the prejudiced and casteist nature of Indian literary criticism. Savarna critics immortalised Kolatkar and invisiblised Patel.

Raja Dhale passes away aged 78: Remembering the tireless Panther who fired the Dalit literary imagination

Raja Dhale’s words gave voice, and a philosophy, to the grief of the masses — something that no writer of his time had hitherto been able to provide

Article 15's Good Brahmin-Bad Brahmin schtick isn't a patch on Fandry's deft handling of caste

To understand why Article 15 is not as progressive a film as it's being made out to be, we need to look at the Nagraj Manjule-directed Fandry

India and the Indian: My nationalism competes with China, not Pakistan, writes Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

Our political life, lived around only village panchayats before 1950, is now connected to a larger constitutional democracy. In the future, this nationalist view will gain more prominence. The RSS nationalism will slowly but surely wither away.

Telling BR Ambedkar's story is difficult; for Bahujan filmmaker Jyoti Nisha, it has proven to be even more so

It is hard to tell Ambedkar’s story. Ironically, it is harder to tell his story if you are Dalit or Bahujan.