India Untouched screened @ Kirori Mal college
Our second movie screening was held in Kirori Mal College on the 26th of August with the help of the film society in the college. The movie screened was “India Untouched” by Director Stalin K. who with his team spent four years traveling the length and breadth of India to bear witness to the continued exclusion and segregation of those considered as ‘Untouchables’.
The screening was attended by about 20 participants and after the screening a brief description was given about Pravah and SMILE to acquaint our audience about where we were coming from and why we wanted to share our experiences with them and why we felt the need to be there.
Some participants shared that they felt “Sad” “Disturbed” and “Shocked” after watching the movie, some also said that they were unaware that caste existed in so many areas of the society. What shocked most of the audience was the fact that issues like untouchability and caste system are still prevalent in states like Kerala which has the highest literacy rate. One of the student also shared, and I quote, “JNU is supposed to be an institution which is stereotypically a leftist and it’s shocking to see that discrimination like this is there also, I wonder if this also happens in DU” .
The issue of reservation which in our country is closely related to the system of caste is also raised in the movie and the students gave their opinions and shared what they felt about the issue, and I quote again, “Caste is prevalent across all parts of the country and all sections of the society” Another issue that was raised in the movie was that of back door entries and students coming in through self financed seats.
To this the students said that Many instances of the Vedas came up as many portions of the Manusmriti are mentioned in the movie, to this the group reached a consensus that it might be that when the Vedas were made during the ancient times it fit into the scenario and they might have been scientific for those times, but the interpretation that has trickled down during centuries has been seriously misinterpreted.
A very interesting topic that was raised was the discussion of Burqa which was left at the open ended question of “Does the individual really have the choice to decide whether to wear one or not? “
In all it was a great discussion which led to a lot of thinking, it was followed by another screening on the 28th of August details of which will be coming up soon. A special thanks to the film society of Kirori Mal college in helping it become a success and we would like to carry on with this association.
Keep :)ing
SMILE'rs
The screening was attended by about 20 participants and after the screening a brief description was given about Pravah and SMILE to acquaint our audience about where we were coming from and why we wanted to share our experiences with them and why we felt the need to be there.
Some participants shared that they felt “Sad” “Disturbed” and “Shocked” after watching the movie, some also said that they were unaware that caste existed in so many areas of the society. What shocked most of the audience was the fact that issues like untouchability and caste system are still prevalent in states like Kerala which has the highest literacy rate. One of the student also shared, and I quote, “JNU is supposed to be an institution which is stereotypically a leftist and it’s shocking to see that discrimination like this is there also, I wonder if this also happens in DU” .
The issue of reservation which in our country is closely related to the system of caste is also raised in the movie and the students gave their opinions and shared what they felt about the issue, and I quote again, “Caste is prevalent across all parts of the country and all sections of the society” Another issue that was raised in the movie was that of back door entries and students coming in through self financed seats.
To this the students said that Many instances of the Vedas came up as many portions of the Manusmriti are mentioned in the movie, to this the group reached a consensus that it might be that when the Vedas were made during the ancient times it fit into the scenario and they might have been scientific for those times, but the interpretation that has trickled down during centuries has been seriously misinterpreted.
A very interesting topic that was raised was the discussion of Burqa which was left at the open ended question of “Does the individual really have the choice to decide whether to wear one or not? “
In all it was a great discussion which led to a lot of thinking, it was followed by another screening on the 28th of August details of which will be coming up soon. A special thanks to the film society of Kirori Mal college in helping it become a success and we would like to carry on with this association.
Keep :)ing
SMILE'rs
Posted in: on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at at 9:15 PM
This post kind of proves that Movies, Media have a strong connection with mobilisation.The reaction of the audiences proves that a lot of us are actually ignorant about the problem surrounding us and an event like this helps to introspect, reflect and decide on the way forward.I guess the process has just begin and we can get a lot more out of it in the days to come.Thanks a ton for the active involvement.... lets keep it going :)
I agree with you Abhijit...
Media does play a very important role to affect our lives and using this medium positively will do wonders to bring about change.
Feels really good that we guys are working very hard to bring the same...
Keep it up :)
Regards,
Nishu