Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Harish S. Wankhede
(Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU)
Will be presenting a paper on
From Achhut to Newton: Bollywood in Search of a Dalit Hero
Date & Time: October 5, 2017 (Thursday), 3.00 pm
Venue: CSSS Committee Room (Room No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: There is very little space for the Dalit imagery in the century long history of Hindi cinema. Our films have remained dominated by protagonists that unapologetically endorse upper caste cultural values and middle class privileges. The caste question is often invisible here and even when the Dalit characters emerge on the screen; they are often portrayed with subversive archetypes. However, in the post-globalization, there has been a subtle evolution of Dalit portrayal in the Hindi cinema. In the two major Hindi films that released very recently, Bhoomi and Newton, a subtle presence of Dalit caste identities is observed. This presentation will analyze certain shifts that Bollywood has seen while representing the Dalit characters.
Bio: Dr. Harish S. Wankhede is currently working as Assistant Professor at the Center for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also taught Political Science at Delhi University’s Aryabhatta College for six years before joining JNU. Government of India in 2012 has awarded him the prestigious Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship to study in the US. He has completed his post-doctoral research at the Stanford University. Dr. Wankhede’s doctoral research is on ‘Secularism and Social Justice in India’. He has written extensively on secularism, identity politics, nationalism and political economy in all major research journals, national magazines, newspapers and internet media portals.
