I'm Really Proud To Be A Brahmin.

'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'

- 

Shazia Iqbal is a trained architect, who started her film career as a production designer in many of Anurag Kashyap's films. In 2019, she made a short film called Bebaak, a part-autobiographical story of a young Muslim girl. The film traveled to many international film festivals. Iqbal recently directed Dhadak 2, the Hindi remake of the award winning Tamil classic Pariyerum Perumal, directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Pa Ranjith. Dhadak 2 is one of the rare Hindi films focusing on caste discrimination. The powerful, searing drama is produced by Karan Johar and stars Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri. It recently opened to positive reviews, and enthusiastic support from the Dalit and other OBC caste communities. It also got the endorsement of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani who spoke at the screening that the film should get a tax-free status.

Shazia, I am wondering about your awareness of caste issues. You grew up in Mumbai in a Muslim household.

People know there is a caste system in India and caste discrimination...

Shazia: But they don't know how it's practiced when they are on the other side. Very early on, I wondered whether I was the right person to make this film. I believe that I would be a better person to make Bebaak than somebody else who has not lived that life.

But you can still navigate from the point of your limited knowledge, to reaching a point where you operate with empathy and compassion and are able to tell that story. And since you are adapting, there is already an inner voice at play, right?

Did they give you the script of Pariyerum Perumal?

Shazia: No. We watched the film but didn't just go with the subtitles. We had a Tamil-speaking person with us and he gave us the cultural context of the scenes.