RIFLE RANGE BOY: Casteism is not dead?

Sennai (செந்நாய், Clay-coloured dog, Tamil; 2021)
Directed: Jayakumar Sedhuraman

There is a new genre developing in Tamil cinema. It is usually done by independent studios as it deals with subjects no major production houses and directors would want to dip their hands in. It is called the Dalit cinema. It deals with primarily taboo issues that affect the Dalit community, Officially caste discrimination is supposed to have been eradicated from the day-to-day life of an average Indian from the early days of Indian Independence, but in reality, it is far from over.

I remember a staff nurse who was high-in-demand to assist in neurosurgical surgeries. Every time that medical centre had an emergency neurosurgical case, her assistance was sought. She was there in all such cases, nursing each patient back to health. Unfortunately, when the same nurse had a medical emergency, she had to be transferred to a public hospital due to the exorbitant cost involved in treating her there.

The same thing happens in this story. Sorry, no glamour roles here and no drop-dead gorgeous actors here either. The story mainly revolves around the lives and times of a couple of cemetery menial workers who manage and do the final rites for the deceased. They sometimes have to transport and dispose of unclaimed bodies from a government health centre. They also act as caretakers of the crematorium there.

For them, it is more than just a job. It defined them. When nobody wants to deal with the stench and the unpleasantness, they have to weigh in between bearing the odour and surviving the hunger pangs. That thought alone gives them strength to transport the cadavers all the way to the cemetery on a push-cart.

Even at death, there is discrimination. When one of their own dies, the push-cart cannot be used, but instead, the next-of-kin has to carry the deceased on their back for miles to the burial site. Even the dais meant for cremation is reserved for the higher caste!

These messages are told poetically in two parallel narratives. One tells the tale of a hypocritical government doctor who openly claims to be colour-blind but has no qualms running down his colleagues from the oppressed caste as less qualified as they got their degrees through quota reservations. He is also quite open in stating that he does not want to get his hands dirty treating the Dalits.

The other concurrent narration is a veiled attack on the Brahmins. A forest turns barren as it is occupied by only herbivorous deer. In wanting to return the green, the wise king got in some omnivorous animals into the jungle to reduce the deer population. With less deer population, trees grew back, restoring the wilderness to its former glory. Life is such. We need to have all kinds to keep it going.

Just by providing education to all, one cannot hope to end prejudices in society. Discrimination still rears its ugly head. Obviously, affirmative action does not benefit anybody. The disadvantaged majority has to seek life fulfilment elsewhere, and the target group will forever be thought of as intellectually challenged.

The messages that the filmmaker is trying to put forward is not so 'in your face' but rather put subtly in long-shot takes. Posters and calendars depicting Ambedkar and Periyar and their quotations appear unapologetically. We also do not have to second guess where their political leanings lie. Again, posters of Karl Marx and Lenin will answer that. What else can it be when some crucial characters in the movie address each other as 'comrades'. Funny, when people have nothing, they want to be a communist. Conversely, when they have everything, communism and socialism are looked upon as scorn of society.

(P.S. All these messages were told in a mere 1-hour presentation.)