Latest news with #casteSystem
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Homebound: Scorsese backed Indian film that got a nine-minute ovation at Cannes
In 2010, Indian filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan made a striking debut at Cannes with Masaan - a poignant tale of love, loss, and the oppressive grip of the caste system, set against the holy city of main lead in the film (Vicky Kaushal) performed a job assigned to one of the lowest castes in the rigid Hindu caste hierarchy – cremating dead bodies along the Ganges. Masaan played in the "Un Certain Regard" section at the festival, which looks at films with unusual styles and or that tells non-traditional stories. It won the FIPRESCI and the Avenir - also known as the Promising Future Prize - then, Ghaywan was in search of a story about India's marginalised communities. Five years ago in the middle of the pandemic, a friend, Somen Mishra - the head of creative development at Dharma Productions in Mumbai - recommended an opinion piece called Taking Amrit Home, published in The New York Times. It was written by the journalist Basharat Peer. What drew Ghaywan to Peer's article was that it tracked the journeys - sometimes of hundreds or even thousands of miles - taken by millions of Indians who travelled on foot to get home during the nation's strict lockdown during the pandemic. But he was also drawn to the core of the story, which focused on the childhood friendship between two men – one Muslim and the other Dalit (formerly known as the untouchables).Ghaywan's new film Homebound, inspired by Peer's article, premiered at Cannes Film Festival's "Un Certain Regard" section this week, ending with a nine-minute long standing ovation. Many in the audience were seen wiping away tears. Ghaywan gave the lead producer Karan Johar a tight hug, while he and his young lead actors – Ishan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor - came together in a larger group hug later. Since this was the biggest South Asian event at Cannes 2025, other film luminaries showed up to support the screening. India's Mira Nair (who won the Camera d'Or in 1988 for Salaam Bombay) leaned across two rows of seats to reach out to Johar. Pakistan's Siam Sadiq (who won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2022 for Joyland) was seen making a reel of the mood inside the theatre that he later posted on film also received backing from a rather unexpected quarter. Its main producer is Johar, the leading Indian commercial filmmaker (known for blockbuster films like Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham and the recent Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani). But last month Martin Scorsese stepped in as the executive producer after he was introduced to the film by the French producer Mélita Toscan du is the first time Scorsese has stepped in to support a contemporary Indian film. Until now he has only backed restored classic Indian films. "I have seen Neeraj's first film Masaan in 2015 and I loved it, so when Mélita Toscan du Plantier sent me the project of his second film, I was curious," Scorsese said in a statement last month. "I loved the story, the culture and was willing to help. Neeraj has made a beautifully crafted film that's a significant contribution to Indian cinema." According to Ghaywan, Scorsese helped nurture the film by mentoring the team through a number of rounds of edits. But he also tried to understand the cultural context which helped the exchange of context was important to Ghaywan, since he had been trying to capture the right spirit of the subject he was tackling. The film's two lead characters – Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Khatter) and Chandan Kumar (Jethwa) have shared histories – the weight of centuries of discrimination at the hand of upper caste Hindus, but also similar goals to rise above the barriers imposed on them - in this case by joining their state's police has openly shared that he was born into a Dalit family - a reality that has cast a long shadow over his life, haunting him since childhood. As an adult, he went on to study business administration and then worked in a corporate job in Gurgaon outside the capital, Delhi. He said he never faced discrimination but was acutely aware of his position in the caste hierarchy and still lives with the weight of where he was born. "I am the only acknowledged person from the community who is there behind and in the front of camera in all of Hindi cinema history. That is the kind of gap we are living with," he says. A majority of India lives in its villages, but Hindi filmmakers rarely talk about bringing the villages to their stories, says Ghaywan. What also offends him is that marginalised communities are only talked about as statistics. "What if we pick one person out of that statistic and see what happened in their lives?" he says. "How did they get to this point? I felt it was worth narrating a story."When he sat down to write the script, he tried to fictionalise the backstories of the two protagonists until the point that they took the journey during Covid – which is the beginning of Peer's a child in Hyderabad, Ghaywan had a close Muslim friend, Asghar, so he felt deeply connected to Ali and Kumar's lived experiences in the film."What appealed to me more was the humanity behind it, the interpersonal, the interiority of the relationship," he says, that took him back to his childhood in Ghaywan's hands, Homebound has the wonderful glow and warmth of the winter sun. It is gorgeously shot in India's rural North, capturing simple joys and the daily struggles of its Muslim and Dalit protagonists. The two men, the woman one of them loves (Kapoor and Jethwa both portray Dalit characters), and their interactions offer much to reflect on and the most part, Ghaywan's script keeps viewers on the edge. Back in 2019, none of us truly grasped the scale of the coming pandemic - but the film subtly foreshadows a shift, reminding us that a crisis can cut across class, caste, and ethnicity, touching seamless blend of fiction and reality has produced a powerful public document, grounding its characters in authenticity. More than just moving its audience to tears, the film is bound to spark meaningful conversations - and, one hopes, a deeper understanding of those who live in the shadows.
ABC News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Indian government to include caste questions in census for first time since independence
Being born in Indian means inheriting a place in an ancient social system which will dominate much of your life, from where you can live to who you can marry. Now, the government wants to know more about how the caste system is playing out in modern-day India. The government is set to ask people questions about their caste in the next census — the first such move in nearly 100 years. Experts say the results are likely to have significant consequences for Indian politics and the contentious policies linked to the system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government confirmed the plan, with spokesperson Ashwini Vaishnav saying it, "demonstrates that a government is committed to the values and interests of a society and country". India's interior minister, Amit Shah, described the decision as "historic". "This decision will empower all economically and socially backward sections," he said in a statement. Caste data was last collected as part of the census in 1931 during British colonial rule that ended with Indian independence 16 years later. A caste survey was conducted in 2011, which was separate to the census held in the same year, but its results were never made public because they were purportedly inaccurate. Successive governments have since resisted updating the sensitive demographic data, citing administrative complexity and fears of social unrest. The system is widely believed to be more than 3,000 years old. People are born into their caste. The system divides India's Hindu population into four categories based on their kharma (work) and their dharma (duty). It dominates the lives of the people within it, determining what work they can do, who they can marry and even where they can eat and drink. The rules governing the structure are set out in Manusmriti, the book considered by some to be the most authoritative text on Hindu law. It's believed the four groups originated from the Hindu God of Creation, Brahma: Outside of this system are the Dalits, formerly known as the untouchables, who are limited to jobs like bathroom cleaning and street-sweeping. Dalit literally translates as "broken people" and this caste is shunned by Indian society. While it's a strict system, there are examples of people moving out of their castes — India's constitution was written by BR Ambedkar, a member of the Dalit community. Some scholars have argued that it was in fact British colonisers who imposed the strict rules in an attempt to maintain control over a religiously and socially diverse population. India's constitution, which was written in 1950 after the country gained independence, banned caste discrimination. It also confirmed quotas in government jobs as well as educational opportunities for particular castes. But despite that, caste experts like Dhaneswar Bhoi say that the system continues to permeate Indian society. "It's basically a system where some communities are not allowed to access … education, economic and social resources," Dr Bhoi told the ABC. "They are also treated differently in the society, they are discriminated against based on caste … and it is hereditary. It is very problematic to the society." Dr Bhoi, an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said that some people may fear "the true, naked story" of the country being revealed through the caste data, but it will better inform public policy. "It can fine-tune the public policy and give equal access and equal platform to the society, so that the marginal sections can level-up and equate with others," he said. He said those in upper castes continued to have access to jobs, education and land, while those in lower castes struggled to get by. No date has been set for the next census but local media suggests it is set to take place in 2026. It will be an enormous undertaking for the government as it tries to gather the data of the 1.4 billion people living in the country. Dr Bhoi said it was unlikely that this census would be the beginning of the end of the caste system, which is also reinforced through religion. "It has the power of more than 3,000 years and it is not just physical, it also lives in the psyche of the people," he said. ABC/wires
Bloomberg
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
A Caste Census Will Reveal India's Worst-Kept Secret
For the first time in nearly 100 years, India will get 1.4 billion people to name their caste in a census. Presenting the biggest obstacle to India's embrace of modernity, the caste system divides Hindus into rigid categories that govern every aspect of life. The last successful exercise to record this ancient, hierarchical social identity, conducted by British colonial rulers in 1931, threw up more than 4,000 answers. (There was another attempt in 2011, but it didn't quite work; an open-ended question generated 4.6 million replies. The government decided the caste data was worthless.)
