Ajith Kumar A S Critiquing a friend’s film This time I would like to have an open dialogue with my friend Rupesh Kumar on his film ‘Don’t be our fathers‘. I think a dialogue in the public sphere would be more productive because more people could engage with it. This month I traveled with …
Two films on caste in Kerala
Two documentary films on caste in contemporary Kerala –’3D STEREO CASTE‘ (23 min; Dir: A S Ajith Kumar) and ‘DON”T BE OUR FATHERS‘ (30 Min; Dir: Rupesh Kumar ) will be screened at different colleges/universities in New Delhi from August 30th to September 3rd. Screening Schedule August 30, Friday – 9.30 am: Kamala Nehru …
Mahatma Ayyankali’s Birth Anniversary
At 6: 15 p.m., on 28th August, 2013, Old Conference Hall, Main Campus, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Talk on ‘Reclaiming the Legacy of Mahatma Ayyankali‘ Speaker: Mohammed Irshad 28th August marks the 151st Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Ayyankali one of the anti-caste superstars of India. He walked fearlessly on the streets of Travancore …
A dissent note on the ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign
Sruthi Herbert “She is so fair that to look at her, you wouldn’t say she is an SC girl”. The ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign got a big fillip with its endorsement by Nandita Das, who no doubt, has experienced the bias that the movie industry has against dark-skinned people. One kept having nagging doubts …
“I just want to blow the lid off this patronage”: Rupesh Kumar
Sruthi Herbert converses with film maker Rupesh Kumar on his new documentary ‘Don’t be our fathers‘. Watch its promo here: {youtube}Bbz9pQqUSTw{/youtube} Sruthi Herbert: ‘Don’t be our fathers’ is your latest documentary set in your village in Kerala, Peringeel. This being your native village, the process of making this documentary must also be an intense …
From Colonies to Agricultural Land
Six months of land struggle at Arippa Ajith Kumar A S It was on December 31st 2012, that landless people, majority of them being dalits and adivasis, entered 56 acres of revenue land at Arippa in Kollam district of Kerala demanding land rights. Now there are almost 1300 families in the protest land. The …
From Colonies to Agricultural Land
Six months of land struggle at Arippa Ajith Kumar A S It was on December 31st 2012, that landless people, majority of them being dalits and adivasis, entered 56 acres of revenue land at Arippa in Kollam district of Kerala demanding land rights. Now there are almost 1300 families in the protest land. The …
Caste in cinema and music: the Kerala experience
~ Caste in cinema and music: the Kerala experience ~ A S Ajith Kumar talks to Dalit Camera Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes This is the first part of an interview with A S Ajith Kumar, writer, musician and filmmaker based in Trivandrum. The interview was conducted by Radhika Pai and Gopika Nangia after the …
Adivasis cannot survive without their land: C. K. Janu
Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes C. K. Janu has breathed new life into the land struggles of the Adivasis and the landless in Kerala, fashioned a new autonomous language of resistance for similarly marginalized groups fighting for land rights across the country. In 2003, after the Muthanga agitation in 2003, she had written: The …