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‘Karnan’: Empowering the Marginalized Through Cinematic Resistance

Satish Parghi Mari Selvaraj’s 2021 Tamil film “Karnan” boldly confronts the harsh injustices endured by India’s marginalized communities in a way rarely seen in cinema (Karnan movie review, 2021). More than just entertainment, this powerful work serves as searing social commentary and an inspirational call to action for the oppressed (Srinivasan, 2021). Adapted from Sanjay …

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The Future of ‘Dravidian Studies’

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  Karthick R M MSS Pandian was an exemplary Tamil scholar, but more importantly, he was a Dravidian scholar. What I mean by ‘Dravidian’ here does not denote an individual belonging to a region, ethnicity, nation or culture, but a way of socio-political thinking that lays emphasis on social justice, proportional representation, a form of …

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The Double Dhamaka of being a Brahmin Revolutionary

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  Rajesh Rajamani Recently, when ‘Kabali’ director Pa Ranjith introduced ‘The Casteless Collective’, an initiative that attempts to politicize and mainstream ‘Gaana’ music (considered to be a musical form of the oppressed), he was accused of bringing caste into art. Popular Tamil singer Srinivas from the Iyengar community rubbished the initiative on his social media …

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Who’s your Perfect Dalit Woman?

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  Christina Thomas Dhanaraj “The oppressor is solidary with the oppressed only when he stops regarding the oppressed as an abstract category and sees them as persons who have been unjustly dealt with, deprived of their voice, cheated in the sale of their labor — when he stops making pious, sentimental, and individualistic gestures and …

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The Earnestness of Kabali

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  Rajesh Rajamani Kabali is a very good movie. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!) The movie effectively borrows several Rajinikant tropes and uses them meaningfully within the script. For example, Rajinikant’s movies almost always begin with an opening song. Where he introduces himself to the audience. No one knows why this is done. It’s quite a bizarre …