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Reversing the upper-caste gaze: Rajesh Rajamani on his vision for The Discreet Charm of the Savarnas
FirstpostA few years ago, a film production house shared a casting call on Facebook for ‘an actor who looks like a Dalit’. It follows a trio of upper-caste filmmakers from South Bombay on an urgent quest to find a protagonist who, in their words, ‘looks like a Dalit’ for their film shoot the next day. His response is two-fold, “I think increasingly in academia, news media and popular culture, caste has become synonymous with Dalits and it’s almost as if the rest of society is distanced from caste. Many discover caste in their later years, in contrast, I don’t think any Bahujan person has that luxury, they’re forced to know about the violence and vulgarity of caste from a young age, even before they’re prepared to do so,” Rajamani says. Contemplating this misinterpretation, Rajamani says with a chuckle, “In spite of my deliberate measures I’m very amused that they’ve managed to make it about that.” Watch The Discreet Charm of the Savarnas: Nolina S Minj is an Adivasi feminist writer and researcher.
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