As you walk into Prasad Film Lab to attend the fest, apart from the PK Rosy banner and Neelam book stall, a statue of Ambedkar holding the Annihilation of Caste book too welcomes you. The statue also features intricate carvings of him drinking water, depicting his Mahad Satyagraha movement (1927), a non-violent march to allow everyone to use water from a public tank in Mahad (a place in Maharashtra).
Cinema and Conversations
Along with AMB, Tamil movies Maamannan, Viduthalai – Part 1, Blue Star, Malayalam movie Adrishya Jalakangal and English features Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station and Spike Lee’s Blakklansman were screened in the festival. Short film Juice (Hindi) and five documentaries – Chaityabhumi (Hindi), Beyond Hatred & Power, We Keep Singing (Malayalam), Mel Paathi (Tamil), Dr Ambedkar Now and Then (Hindi) and Writing With Fire (Hindi) were also part of the lineup. Apart from these, there were also three-panel discussions on social dramas, modern cinema and Dalit cinema.
“The way the audience engages with the material here is very unlike viewers in other places. The conversations are very critical and the engagement feels personal,” says Jyoti Nisha, whose documentary Dr Ambedkar Now and Then was screened at the festival.
Are Tamil Anti-Caste Films Falling Into A Template?
The anti-caste wave in Tamil cinema is quite a unique phenomenon. Nisha says, “In Chennai and Tamil Nadu, in general, the conversations with caste politics and political issues are very relevant and in tune with the time. Whatever Pa Ranjith is doing here is extremely assertive. Such movements are there in a few places but the difference is that here, everyone is very vocal about it. Pa Ranjith has created a new space, a new grammar here.”