43 years ago, a bunch of fiery writers and ideologues founded the Dalit Panthers movement in Mumbai, agitating for Dalit rights. The party did not last but its influence can still be seen today.
Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut movie, ‘Court’, casts the spotlight on the life of a Dalit poet whose firebrand verses lands him in a maze of legal cases and his travails in the course of his prosecution.
Tamhane’s characterisation of the beleaguered poet, located in the charged atmosphere of contemporary caste politics and hierarchical society has been acclaimed internationally. The real success story of the 116-minute-long film is its message that regardless of the outcome of the court case in which the poet is entangled in, the social structures that marginalise a Dalit remain unchanged.
The main protagonist of the film Narayan Kamble is placed in the tumultuous politics that began with a few young Marathi writers staking claim over the Dalit reformist movement that began this day 43 years ago in Maharashtra. Following the footsteps of the American Black Panthers, two Dalit writers, Namdeo Dhasal and J V Pawar, founded the Dalit Panthers who eschewed their hitherto pacifist struggle to launch what they called a just fight for their rights.