CENSORING CHANGE: HOW BOLLYWOOD'S ELITE RESIST CASTE-CONSCIOUS CINEMA

Phule seems to be the latest among the long line of alternative movies that have faced significant hurdles on the way to the big screen, simply for exploring Dalit-Bahujan identities and narratives that mainstream Hindi cinema has often shied away from; and it’s not without a pattern it seems

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Hindi cinema, dominated by profit-driven masala films, often glorifies social elites while sidelining Dalit-Bahujan identities and their concerns. Mainstream Bollywood, criticised for promoting patriarchal and casteist stereotypes, rarely embraces cinema as a tool to challenge social injustices. Additionally, it tends to uphold the cultural and political agendas of traditional social elites while avoiding engaging with Dalit-Bahujan narratives and their social experiences. Popular cinema hesitates to embrace cinema as a platform for artistic and creative exploration that would unearth orthodox social practices and sensitise the audience about it.

In recent years, mainstream Hindi cinema has seen rare but significant attempts to challenge Bollywood’s stereotypical narratives through films like Article 15, which exposes caste atrocities through a police officer’s awakening, and Dhadak, which subtly weaves caste into a tragic romance, signal a shift toward socially aware storytelling. Other films like Shamshera and Veda, which address issues of caste oppression and present robust Dalit protagonists to fight such social ills, are crucial additions.

This emerging genre has carved out a peripheral yet vital space for films that expose societal injustices and advocate for reform, offering a vision of a more equitable society. Such efforts should be celebrated and supported, but the industry’s conventional ruling elites have largely distanced themselves from this shift.

Instead, these films are often criticised as threats to the dominance of social elites, accused of disrupting social harmony by foregrounding Dalit-Bahujan symbols and narratives.