BHUBANESWAR: Caste prejudice is a persistent reality both in rural and urban settings, said panelists on the second day of the 13th edition of Odisha Literary Festival here on Sunday.
Speaking at the session ‘Finding One’s Voice: Cutting Through the Clutter’ with senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai, Dhadak 2 director Shazia Iqbal and writer Rahul Badwelkar agreed on the fact that caste discrimination continues to be prevalent across India, not just in a particular state or city. The whole country is dealing with this social menace.
The protagonist of Dhadak 2 is a dalit boy who is enrolled in a law school and doesn’t fight for himself. He is struggling with his caste identity. The film is about how the boy comes of age, overcomes his struggles and finds his voice, said Rahul.
“The boy had so much to say, his angst after going through a range of caste-based atrocities. Finally, he gets to speak up and rises up to the occasion. He expresses his deep unease over the social discrimination rooted in the caste system like a lawyer which he always wanted to become,” said Shazia.
Dhadak 2 is an adaption of a Tamil film ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ which is based in a rural setting. However, it was shot in a city (Bhopal) as caste prejudice is not just a rural phenomenon but also a pervasive issue in urban settings as demonstrated by many examples of caste-based discrimination in cities, she said.
Rahul further said, “As the movie also deals with gender, we decided to portray a strong female character. Initially, the female protagonist of the movie is ignorant about these prejudices as she comes from a dominant caste. But in the end, she rejects her father’s caste prejudice, not by expressing her frustration in words but going to her primitive self. She screams after realising that words have no value now.”
Shazia said mainstream Hindi films are often reluctant to talk about ‘jaati’ and ‘dharam’. “So we openly talked about caste in Dhadak 2. The film also speaks about caste discrimination prevalent in the Muslim and other communities. Caste divisions persist in Muslim, Christian and Sikh communities. It’s a sub-continent issue, not just a Hinduism issue.”
She informed that before Dhadak 2 hit the screens, the censor board had some problems with a poem of Omprakash Valmiki which was used in the movie. “But instead of replacing the poem, we rewrote and re-edited it. It was done by one of the best lyricists of Hindi film industry Shailendra who is also a dalit and comes from a marginalised community.” As the session came to an end, Rahul and Shazia announced that they would continue to make films on social issues. “We will not censor ourselves,” they added.