<p>'Song of Ghetto' (Keri Haadu), directed by Chandrashekara K and produced by city-based arts collective Jangama, won the Best Documentary Award at the P K Rosy Film Festival. The festival is organised as part of the Vaanam Art Festival, an annual initiative during Dalit History Month by acclaimed filmmaker Pa Ranjith’s Neelam Cultural Centre.</p>.<p>The 33-minute Kannada documentary traces the many socio-political realities faced by Dalits in contemporary India. The film focuses on the lives of a Dalit community in Dindagur of Hassan district — their resistance against untouchability and their fight to claim their fundamental right to enter their village temple.</p>.Women actors reduced to 'Props' of male leads: Movie critic Sandhya Rani at BIFFes.<p>The film shows how discrimination persists — from being denied access to temples and eateries to them being barred from drinking water from public tanks, and how caste segregation seeps in like DNA, with children from privileged castes refusing to mingle with their Dalit counterparts. Even as many believe education is a way out, caste continues to shadow their lives when they return to their hometowns. There is significant evidence to show that such practices are seen across the country and not limited to Dindagur.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chandrashekara shot the entire film on his mobile phone. During a workshop conducted by Jangama in the village, he began documenting people’s stories, eventually shaping 17 hours of footage into this documentary. He aims to document more such instances of caste-based oppression across villages.</p>
<p>'Song of Ghetto' (Keri Haadu), directed by Chandrashekara K and produced by city-based arts collective Jangama, won the Best Documentary Award at the P K Rosy Film Festival. The festival is organised as part of the Vaanam Art Festival, an annual initiative during Dalit History Month by acclaimed filmmaker Pa Ranjith’s Neelam Cultural Centre.</p>.<p>The 33-minute Kannada documentary traces the many socio-political realities faced by Dalits in contemporary India. The film focuses on the lives of a Dalit community in Dindagur of Hassan district — their resistance against untouchability and their fight to claim their fundamental right to enter their village temple.</p>.Women actors reduced to 'Props' of male leads: Movie critic Sandhya Rani at BIFFes.<p>The film shows how discrimination persists — from being denied access to temples and eateries to them being barred from drinking water from public tanks, and how caste segregation seeps in like DNA, with children from privileged castes refusing to mingle with their Dalit counterparts. Even as many believe education is a way out, caste continues to shadow their lives when they return to their hometowns. There is significant evidence to show that such practices are seen across the country and not limited to Dindagur.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chandrashekara shot the entire film on his mobile phone. During a workshop conducted by Jangama in the village, he began documenting people’s stories, eventually shaping 17 hours of footage into this documentary. He aims to document more such instances of caste-based oppression across villages.</p>