Ajinkya Sanjay Khandizod Urbanization and Slum Growth Urbanization has exploded in Indian metropolises over the last few decades. The urbanization degree worldwide is around 57%, whereas in India, it is 34%. According to the U.N. report on World Urbanization Prospects 2018, cities’ population will double by 2050. Between 2014-2018, the slum percentage increased from 23% …
Kaala: A Critique of the Communists, and a Call for them to join the Dalit movement
Sree Govind Bharatvaraj Pa. Ranjith’s Kaala makes an Ambedkarite critique of the communists yet calls for their participation in a collective battle against Hindutva. Keywords: caste; Hindutva; communist; Ranjith; Kaala Tamil filmmaker Ranjith (well known as Pa. Ranjith) is an Ambedkarite who is influenced by the 1990s Dalit political movements. In his movie Kaala, he …
‘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 …
Kaala: Construct of Ambedkarite leadership by Pa Ranjith
Mahipal Mahamatta If we look at the history of more than 100 years of Indian cinema, we will find that Caste has been blatantly sidelined from it. Kancha Ilaiah had staid that mainstream history of India, is a history of the upper castes and there is no space for Dalits and Bahujans in it. …
Kaala: A Bahujan Grammar for Cinema
Vinay Shende At the outset, let me say that this is not a film review and I am no expert on the technicalities of film making. I won’t be talking about the plot of the movie. If anyone sees it as only a gangster movie, then they are missing the point. Director Pa Ranjith weaves …
Ranjith’s Kaala is a call for collective action: A felt review
R Karthick Narayanan A good movie often has a tendency to leave you affected when you leave the cinema hall. Among such movies, some make the audience express sympathy towards the subjects in the movie, others make us empathize with the subjects in the movie, but very few movies have the ability to provoke you …
Milking Thoothukudi massacre for caste vendetta: The Boycott Kaala call
Bobby Kunhu The liberal Tamil intelligentsia is at it again – Pa Ranjith bashing – and this time for guilt by association. Following Rajinikanth’s visit to Thoothukudi after the massacre on 22nd May, he was publicly humiliated on camera by Santhosh, a young leader of the movement and also the coordinator of the All …