City art collectives hit back at Adoor

Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s comments against state funding for Dalit and women film directors at the Kerala film policy conclave has sparked outrage. He said that the government funding of Rs 1.5 crore for filmmakers from the SC/ST communities is “paving the way for corruption”, also adding that filmmakers should be given “at least three months of intensive training to make films”. He suggested the grant be reduced to Rs 50 lakh. 

Metrolife spoke to city-based art collectives that support anti-caste work for their take on the filmmaker’s comments. 

‘Some celebrated artistes are regressive’

Nisha Abdulla of Offstream said it’s time “we take art from people like Gopalakrishnan and place it alongside their politics. We cannot remove their politics from their art.”

Founded by Sri Vamsi Matta, Nisha and Padmalatha Ravi, the collective is an attempt to build a community around art that is rooted in anti-caste work and imagination. “We believe in the current context, artistes in such work should be in conversation with each other, because it is difficult to take on hegemonic institutions alone,” added Nisha. 

Offstream helps artistes with financial grants and mentorship, and conducts pre-funded workshops including filmmaking, visual aesthetic and direction fundamentals. Their other initiatives include translation of anti-caste literature and archiving anti-caste history. 

‘Reason we started an Ambedkarite collective’

Mahishaa of Neelavarana, an Ambedkarite artistes’ forum dedicated to promoting Dalit-Bahujan artistes in Karnataka, said Gopalakrishnan’s comments had strengthened his belief about why they began the collective. Focused mainly on filmmaking, films produced and presented by Neelavarana are stories of the Dalit-Bahujan communities told by filmmakers from the communities. ‘Moda Moda’, ‘Area Bois’, and ‘Babasaheb in Bengaluru’ are some such films.

Neelavarana also hosts workshops and sessions to bring perspectives of Dalit and women filmmakers to the forefront. They are also planning a workshop for Dalit and Bahujan women. “Even in the Dalit community, women are still oppressed. So we want to empower women from the community,” Mahishaa shared. 

‘Very insensitive’ 

Lakshman K P, one of the founding members of Jangama Collective, said that despite being a great filmmaker, Gopalakrishnan’s comments “perhaps reflect what he has been thinking over the years. It’s appalling”. 

Jangama is an Ambedkarite collective of film and theatre artistes who believe in creating cultural and political awareness through art. “The presence of anti-caste politics within the art context is limited. There is noticeable silence about such issues including representation. So it was important to build this political consciousness through activism,” added Lakshman. 

Workshops are conducted for children and the collective is also trying to bring more awareness among Dalit youth. Jangama also has a film studio.

‘Just like anti-reservation’ 

Adavi Arts Collective’s focus is parai attam, a Dalit art form from Tamil Nadu. “Many artistes in the collective are also from the community. They want to tell stories from their perspective,” said Naren, one of the founders, who believes Gopalakrishnan’s comment was similar to anti-reservation remarks that marginalised communities often hear. 

“Even now parai (percussion instrument) is played on the streets and is considered inauspicious because it is played during death. We want to bring them to city and contemporary spaces to spread awareness about the instrument and its history,” he added.

Adavi was founded by a group of artistes who separated from a theatre group “due to restrictions on expressing anti-caste opinions”.