Mainstreaming of Dalit Cinema Has Only Begun Even on the few occasions where Dalit characters are depicted on screen, they are portrayed through degraded stereotypical roles, mainly as poor or wretched people with no agency and power to change their precarious conditions. The early Hindi cinema, in particular, presented Dalit characters as humble and docile, physically challenged and drunkard or …
Perariyathavar’s biggest achievement is that it takes us into a long-invisibilised world, through the eyes of a man employed as a sweeper, and his son. The scenario has slowly changed, and the identity of Dalit characters in cinema — directed by a Dalit filmmakers — has become explicit, transcending boundaries of caste and class. The movie does not claim to …
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