South Indian directors changing the way Dalits are shown in films—out with Brahminical gaze

Directors like Pa Ranjith, Mari Selvaraj, and Gopi Naynar are challenging the Brahminical gaze, which dominated film narratives and portrayed Dalits as downtrodden or disabled.

Bengaluru: Dalit representation in South Indian cinema is undergoing a radical shift. In Pa Ranjith’s 2022 film Natchathiram Nagargiradhu, Renee, a Dalit woman with striking blue hair and a septum ring, pointedly asks her partner, Iniyan—a staunch Brahmin—“Will you eat beef?” But the scene’s framing almost makes it look as though the question is directed at the audience. This moment is part of a growing movement where filmmakers challenge the Brahminical gaze in South Indian films.

The scene caught the attention of Apeksha Singegol during her PhD research on Dalit representation in South Indian cinema.

“A new wave of Dalit cinema has emerged over the past decade. It helps us experience the ‘new Dalit’ who, in reality, is the old Dalit that went unacknowledged by cinema,” said Singegol, a research scholar at Christ University, Bengaluru. Speaking at Atta Galatta bookstore in Bengaluru on 25 January, she examined Dalit representation in South Indian cinema, especially their portrayed in Tamil, Malayalam, and other South Indian films since the 1950s.

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Courtesy: The Print

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