The Kannada film industry, which took up daring themes in the 1970s and 80s, has in recent decades kept away from making films on caste conflict.
On the other hand, Tamil cinema is increasingly telling bold stories about marginalised communities.
Pa Ranjith’s 'Attakathi, 'Madras' and ‘Kaala’, Mari Selvaraj’s ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ and 'Karnan' and Vetrimaaran’s ‘Asuran’ are driving the anti-caste movement forward in Tamil cinema.
In Kannada, Chaitanya K M wanted to adapt Dalit ideologue Devanuru Mahadeva’s story ‘Odalaala’ for the big screen but had to drop the idea because he could not find a producer. “They all felt it was risky.” Chaitanya, however, directed ‘Aa Dinagalu,’ a story about the 1980s’ world of Bengaluru gangsters.
“We see more Dalit themes in Tamil because they have more directors from the Dalit community. That could be because Tamil Nadu’s politics has emerged from a long fight against caste oppression,” he reasons.
Although Basavanna set the tone for a protest and self-respect movement in the 12th century, Karnataka has not seen its reemergence in recent decades.
Karnataka witnessed a socialist movement in the mid-20th century but did not take up a fight against caste discrimination, says Chaitanya.
Mansore, director of the award-winning 'Nathicharami' and the hostage drama Act 1978, echoes Chaitanya’s thoughts.
“We have many organisations fighting against caste-related incidents but these don’t aggregate,” he says.
The box office response to 'bold' films has not been too encouraging, Kannada filmmakers say. “We have very few instances when such movies have succeeded. A movie was made on the ‘Kambalapalli’ outrage, in which seven Dalits were burnt to death by upper-caste men. But no one watched it. People expect exaggeration from our movies,” says Mansore.
Filmmaker Giriraj B M also feels the Kannada audiences aren’t keen on such narratives. “Social conflict stories are not embraced by our people and that is evident from how films like ‘Hemavati’ and ‘Huliya’ have fared in the past,” he says.
That’s why producers aren’t putting their money into such projects, he says. “We often say that the lifespan of an actor is 20 movies. This means, there will always be someone to invest in him. But it works differently in the case of directors. No one will come forward to invest if a director’s last film fails. That they have delivered seven or eight hit films in the past won’t matter,” says Giriraj, known for critically acclaimed films such as ‘Maithri', and 'Jatta'.
Mansore notes that the current crop of Kannada filmmakers don’t have the reading or the academic grounding to understand sociology, and tell stories about caste oppression.
Chaitanya drives this point home with an example, “In ‘Samskara’, Girish Karnad played the role of an orthodox Brahmin. An assistant director had to explain to him how an orthodox Brahmin eats a banana. Nuances like these are important. Likewise, when it comes to portraying Dalits, one should be sensitive to such details even if you are not from their community.”
No direct indication of caste
Direct indication of caste in Kannada popular cinema is rare but is still there, much more than in Hindi cinema. Usually, only Brahmin was denoted through GV Iyer as a hypocritical priest (Bedara Kannappa) but indirect reading was possible.
There are markers, like the kind of Kannada they speak. Educated people like doctors and teachers will be connoted as Brahmin. Ashwath would often play these characters. Agriculturists, which means farmers, would be Vokkaliga Kannadigas. But a progressive farmer or a coffee planter would be a Brahmin Kannadiga as in Belli Moda.
If you take Rajkumar’s CID 999 character in 'Jedara Bale', what is his caste? In the earlier Kannada cinema, marriage was arranged. Only at certain points, when Indira Gandhi’s central influence was there as in the Devaraj Urs period, you saw a slight change in representations. For example, Rajkumar’s character loves a tribal (Kalpana) in 'Gandhadha Gudi'. But by and large, endogamy ruled in popular cinema.
In 'Jedara Bale', CID 999 is going by flight to Delhi. There is one person named Rao Saheb Narasinga Rao played by Ashwath who talks to him. What would he be? He tells Rajkumar that he has a marriageable daughter and wonders if he might be interested. If he makes a marriage offer like this, you can assume they belong to the same caste. So CID 999 is connoted as Brahmin. In a later film, CID 999 says he is a coffee planter. This is how you deduce from the information given.
Arts cinema is a national category and it deals with national issues. Caste doesn’t matter here till it’s actually invoked. 'Samskara' was one of the films that brought up caste and deliberately addressed the issue as did 'Ghatashraddha' and 'Grahana'.
Scenario in Tamil
Tamil Nadu has had a caste churning through the Dravidian movement whereas Karnataka and old Mysore haven’t had that. Perhaps these directors are influenced by these movements and they feel empowered. I doubt you will see something like 'Kaaka Muttai' in Kannada.
-MK Raghavendra, experienced film critic and author.