Jai Bhim Comrade: Unraveling the truth about casteism in India

Jai Bhim Comrade: Unraveling the truth about casteism in India

By Christine Machado

We pride ourselves on being citizens of a country that is thought to be progressing in all spheres and well on the course toward eradicating all social evils. But well-known documentary film maker Anand Patwardhan, through a 200-minute-long documentary on the lives of Dalits that was 14 years in the making, presents an entirely different image portraying the stark reality as it is.

A tribute to his friend the Dalit singer, poet and activist Vilas Ghogre (Ghogre provided the background music to Patwardhan’s 1985 documentary, Bombay Our City) who committed suicide in despair and as sign of protest following the nightmarish events of July 11, 1997, when 10 Dalits protesting the desecration of social equality advocate Ambedkar’s statue were shot dead by the Mumbai police, Jai Bhim Comrade tracks the pitiful plight of the Dalits through the years.

Through videos and interviews, Pathwardhan, who has previously produced films such as War and Peace in 2002, attempts to condense the truth behind the Ramabhai colony riots and the political involvement in the riots, showing how a decade after this incident, residents of the colony have been naively misled into believing that the Hind right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, which were the main culprits in the riot, are on their side

The film, which was awarded the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film at the Film Southasia 2011 festival, brings to the fore the high regard that the Dalits have for Ambedkar—to the extent that most of them have converted to his religion of Buddhism.

A lesson in history, this story is narrated through a number of individual stories woven together with a number of songs by Dalit poets that convey a strong message and speak of their struggle to overcome the inequality they live with in society.

The film also showcases the shockingly perverse attitude of the elite and middle class toward this downtrodden tribe—not only in Mumbai, where the film is set, but all over. While this oppressed class cleans out the filth of the city, the privileged classes complain about how filthy and dirty these people are. One memorable instance is the Dalit festival that takes place once a year where Dalits from all over assemble together to promote activism and show their dedication toward social activists such as Ambedkar and Phule. The educated higher and middle classes detest this gathering, complaining about the nuisance and filth generated as a result, which is no different from that generated at other festivals, such as Ganesh or Diwali. The difference is that the Dalits clean out their mess at the end of it. It also demonstrates how the chitpavanas (Brahmins) and the Marathas (the Kshatriya caste) have brainwashed Indians into believing that Dalits are lesser beings.

But what is noteworthy is that for years the Dalits fatalistically accepted their lot. In the documentary, a Dalit woman says innocently that since Dalits are Dalits they are expected to perform their prescribed social role.

Though Jai Bhim Comrade is a strong film and a real eye opener, its length undermines its message. Though Pathwardhan, who belongs to the old school of filmology, covers all aspects of social disparity in detail, the young generation today is an impatient lot and cannot be expected to sit through a film on a serious issue that stretches three hours and 20 minutes. The film, unfortunately, seems fated to miss its target audience: the real activists who can bring about change.