In the wake of caste-based protests across Maharashtra, Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan tells us what pushed him to raise his voice on the issue and put his identity out there in response to fellow filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s tweet
Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; January 7, 2018)

Against the backdrop of the caste-based protests that have enveloped Maharashtra for the last few days,filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri sparked a Twitter war recently, when he wrote that he once saw the grandson of a Dalit leader on a business class seat on a plane, while he himself, a Brahmin, was seated in the economy class, and remarked that the “pyramid is inverted”.

Responding to him, Neeraj Ghaywan — whose National Award-winning film Masaan (2015) won the FIPRESCI (International Federation Of Film Critics) and Promising Future Award in the UnCertain Regard category at Cannes — wrote, “I am a Dalit. I won the Cannes film award for our country. Also the Cannes advertising award. I won the National award & the Filmfare award. All without using my Dalit identity. And yes, I fly business class now and I will offer you my seat next time you’re on the same plane.” (sic)

The original tweet and its response started a heated debate, with one side applauding Ghaywan and the other saying that Agnihotri’s tweet was taken out of context. Agnihotri responded to the backlash, tweeting, “What I wrote was nuanced. It means that in 2018, real Dalits are those who don’t have money or power. And upper caste are those with money and power. Also, being a Brahmin doesn’t mean you are powerful and oppressor.”

Telling us why he thought it was important to speak up, Ghaywan says, “It’s not easy to speak up. I have spoken about it very subtly before but not so overtly. I did it openly this time as I thought it will encourage other people to speak up and embrace who they are.”

He adds, “I don’t want any of my identity barriers to show in my film or to be a positive or negative deterrent to my work. I want it to be purely consumed as cinema. I don’t want to use it (caste identity) even in the future. I want to focus on my work without having any baggage and want to be treated purely as an artiste. Having said that, I am proud of my identity and believe that we should embrace who we are. The (Vivek’s) tweet felt condescending to me. My friends encouraged me to voice my opinion and say what needed to be told. They said, if you speak about it, maybe it will bring about some sort of change.”

While there have been opposing opinions on the protest and it inadvertently leading to violence, Ghaywan explains his stand, “I condemn violence and there are no two ways about it. But it was a protest and there is a lot of anger and it’s not new. It has been there for centuries and it is bound to come out in some form or the other. This protest was retaliation against all those killings and lynching and injustice. Yes, it may take the form of violence sometimes, which is obviously not right, but you cannot discount or disregard it and say they don’t deserve the right to protest. That is exactly what casteism is all about; you are not offering them their right to protest, which they rightly deserve.”

“Even super progressive people still serve the house help in a different glass; it’s internalised casteism. We see our grandparents behaving this way and we do it inadvertently. The discrimination was always on the back of my mind, though it was never openly addressed. You are conditioned to be subdued and quietly do your work. You constantly have this fear of being judged among your peers. You are not very outspoken, it mars your confidence. Had I still been in that position, I wouldn’t have had the courage to speak up. There was always this fear of my work or talent being attributed to my identity as a Dalit, or the ‘privilege’ it ascribes me to. I didn’t want to own up to it and I wanted to prove that I am here purely because of my talent. That’s why I didn’t speak about it before. Even now, I don’t think my parents are going to be happy about me speaking up. They won’t understand why I am doing it. They are scared that I might get persecuted, which I won’t,” he shares.

Ghaywan elaborates, “A year ago, I did tweet about the casual casteism that comes across in social gatherings. A couple of friends once casually said, 'Arre humko yahan bitha diya tha, hum dalit hain kya?' I just went silent. You can’t react to it, but it hits you hard. Now that I have reached a certain stage in life, I can talk about it. I hope me speaking about it will make others feel confident about themselves and know that they can lead a life of dignity.”

Adding that he is glad the film industry is not prejudiced, Ghaywan says, “The film industry is not casteist. Back in the day, it used to happen but not anymore. I feel happy and comfortable in this phase of filmmaking, as people are not judgemental, you don’t have to necessarily avail any of the privilege that your identity gives you. You want to be truly known as an artiste for whatever your merit is, and I like that democratic space. I don’t want my caste to become a handicap that I will constantly use to promote my film. Cinema is an art form and should be watched for what it is.”