Cinema As Healing Balm

- G.C. Shekhar in Chennai

KARUPPI, the black hunting dog, is merely a symbol. From its free-spirited roaming of the countryside to being tied down to the railway tracks to be crushed by the roaring wheels of a train, Karuppi exemplifies how those held captive by the manacles of caste are oppressed by the more powerful in society. The treatment meted out to his dog in the opening scene is literally extended over the next two hours to the hero—a law student from a village inhabited by Dalits. For its intense yet non-inimical portrayal of this constant struggle for basic social decency, the movie Pariyerum Perumal (The God Who Rides a Horse), named after the main protagonist, will go down as a watershed moment in Tamil cinema.

Directed by debutant Mari Selvaraj, a Dalit filmmaker, the movie has proved to be a commercial success even while earning critical acclaim for treating a sensitive subject with great finesse. Its chosen method is not to raise the hackles of the elite castes, but to make them pause and ponder—especially about the recent spate of honour killings. The film shows a mason bumping off Dalit men and, at times, even elite-caste girls for inter-caste relationships. All in the name of caste pride.

Through the entire journey of the hero, brilliantly portrayed by Kadhir, not once do the caste names ring out. Instead, the context of Tirunelveli district, known for caste clashes between Thevars and Dalits, sets the tone for a conflict passed down generations. Whether the mental trauma he undergoes in his college, the physical abuse at the hands of the heroine’s relatives or the public humiliation of his father, the film is an unforgiving reminder of repression in the name of caste.