Bobby Kunhu When I first watched the classic 1972 Luis Bunuel comedy, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeouise, in 1994 or 95, I could not have imagined that it was possible to adapt the movie in an Indian context. Hypothetically, since I did not imagine that it could happen, I presume the reasons for …
How to write anti-caste solidarity texts
Dr. Murali Shanmugavelan Ensure that “Dalit” appears as a prefix whenever the victim is mentioned. The phrase “Dalit victim” helps your readers understand the difference between Dalits and humans. If your text is about (Dalit) rape, murder, or other gruesome violence, make sure you include the name and picture of the already-traumatised person in the …
Call for Law Interns
Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project Call for Law Interns The Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project (CPAProject) is a research and litigation intervention working to build accountability against the unjust criminalisation of marginalised communities, and towards decarceration. We are looking for legal interns for remote internships from November 2020 to January 2021. The work …
Serious Men – Not so Serious about Dalit Realities
Neeraj Bunkar The recently released ‘Serious Men’ is an Indian Hindi language comedy drama film directed by Sudhir Mishra. The film is based on a book of the same name by Manu Joseph. This movie revolves around the issue of child genius scams. Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Ayyan Mani) plays a migrant Tamil Dalit man who lives …
Manu Joseph’s Serious Men: A tale of two brahmins
Chanchal Kumar Manu Joseph’s award-winning debut novel has been lauded for breaking away from the norm in its depiction of the dalit male character as an intelligent but cunning person. In the words of the author, Ayyan Mani is an “exceptional” individual who is “a freak, in a way” (Joseph 2010). While historically, dalits …
This is not another Nirbhaya
Harshali Nagrale India recorded an average of 87 rape cases every day in 2019 and 4,05,861 cases of crimes against women during the year – a rise of over seven per cent from 2018. Out of the total 32,033 reported rape cases in the year, 11 per cent were from the Dalit community (NCRB,2019). …
Investing in Payback
Dr. Sireesha Patibandla & Dr. Jas Simran Kehal Gurpreet (name changed), a Dalit girl from a poor family in Punjab scores more than 99% in class XII exams and a national daily catapults her into limelight. There is social media frenzy at her achievement and a lawyer from Delhi, acting as a Good Samaritan, channelizes …
‘Life of an Outcast’- A challenge to the popular Hindi cinema
Neeraj Bunkar Cinema is the reflection of the society, which manifests the realities of the actual world. There are multiple methods of filmmaking. In the popular Hindi cinema, caste-based realities are often ignored. In the case where caste is being discussed, it is a high probability that Dalits will be shown as submissive …
Dealing with old foes: Perpetual Exclusion and Loneliness
Akshit Sangomla My name is Akshit Sangomla. I work as a senior reporter at the Down To Earth magazine in Delhi. I report and write stories on climate change, natural disasters, astronomy, artificial intelligence and other science (and technology) related topics – something that Rohith Vemula would have loved to do but was not allowed …