BHUBANESWAR: Author Sohail Rekhy and writer Anuja Chandramouli on Sunday underlined the need for novels that centre around the marginalised communities and regions.
During Odisha Literary Festival’s (OLF) session on - ‘Hidden History, Revisiting The Past’, Rekhy and Chandramouli opined how carefully researched books can reclaim forgotten figures and give voice to those denied a platform.
Rekhy, however, pointed out that market indifference remains a barrier and novels on such themes frequently fail to find publishers because demand and acceptance are limited.
Even when manuscripts are completed, the authors often struggle to find publishers because of limited commercial interest and acceptance. He contrasted this with certain successful south Indian films that centre characters from marginalised backgrounds, which emphasise violence rather than the full complexity of their struggles.
Chandramouli, author of The Wife and the Dancing Girl, expressed similar views and said that dominant narratives are constructed by those in power as instruments of convenience designed to coerce behaviour. Caste hierarchies and dynamics have been propagated for centuries. Those who confront these realities or expose the vested interests are often targeted on social media these days, she added.
Writing about marginalised communities can help, she explained, but only if done carefully. Authors must keep challenging the inherited narrative, ask questions and confront injustice. When voices from the margins are raised, the first reaction is to silence them. Members of oppressed communities must therefore be empowered to tell their own stories, she said.
Rekhy and Chandramouli both opined that literature which documents marginalised lives can restore dignity, disrupt power-driven myths and enlarge the historical record, provided it is grounded in meticulous research and navigates hostility with both courage and facts.
The session was moderated by senior journalist Ravi Shankar Etteth.