For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Sumit Samos Introduction: When we hear the word Dom, it is very often the seminal ethnography “Death in Banaras” by Jonathan Parry (1994) and Niraj Ghaywan’s popular film Masaan that come to our mind. And both of them have dealt with the theme of Doms being the corpse burners in the ghats of Banaras (a …
Bobby Marwaha For some people, like his critics, Chamkila is a notorious singer who promotes vulgarity, sexism, alcoholism, and illicit relationships through his songs. For his listeners, who enjoy his songs, he is their beloved singer and lyricist. We are not a part of either of the groups. We will attempt to understand Chamkila’s songs …
Dr. Abhijit Khandkar I saw the movie Chamkila. A few thoughts that have been on my mind since. First of all, it’s a good thing that the makers chose to tackle such an intriguing yet difficult character and subject, set in a place as complicated as Punjab with all its complex socio-political history and landscape. …
Umar Nizar The musician AR Rahman has recently been castigated in certain circles for speaking out strongly against a lobby working against him in Bollywood. This has caught many by surprise. The huge fan following of the Academy Award-winning composer commanded has not really translated into popular support. The politics of music and the …
Anurag Minus Verma Recently many of us have seen/read news about a few Indians thanking sanitation workers (read Dalits) with flowers for combating the corona pandemic on the streets. Such rare gestures look pleasant but this doesn’t change the fact that these are mere gestures1. It is no surprise that in these emergency times, many …
Dwija Aami and Sreerag Poickadan Malayalam actor Vinayakan has received the Kerala State government’s Best Actor Award 2016 for the Malayalee film Kammatpadam, recently. His interview by Jimmy James in Asianet News television channel for the programme ‘Point Blank’ on March 13, 2017, became viral on social media owing to his bold answers, straightforwardness and …
Pardeep Attri While growing up in Punjab, I was reminded by many not to listen to ‘Chamkila’. I could never understand the reasons behind those advices at that time and never cared to ask anyone as I was not a song loving person. Hence, those advices didn’t matter to me. After moving to England …
Sreebitha P. V. Two recent articles in The Hindu address the question of caste and gender in Indian Music and Dance. The first article titled ‘Sanskritization and Culture’, highlights the fact that many artists from the field of dance and music have rejected and embraced Sanskritization at different points in history. The second article, …
~ Caste in cinema and music: the Kerala experience ~ A S Ajith Kumar talks to Dalit Camera Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes This is the second part of an interview with A S Ajith Kumar, writer, musician and filmmaker based in Trivandrum (you can read the first part here). The interview was …