Introduction
Hindi cinema, or Bollywood as it is affectionately known, has long captivated audiences with its larger-than-life heroes and inspiring narratives. The recent box-office success “12th Fail” directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra stands testament to Bollywood’s love for heroic storytelling. The film, which charts the incredible journey of IAS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, brought to life by Vikrant Messy, has become a talking point for its portrayal of a triumphant rags-to-riches story. It is a story that both entertains and motivates audiences to uphold their moral duties.
The Underlying Disconnect
However, beneath the sheen of such triumphant narratives lies a disconcerting imbalance. The tales spun by mainstream Hindi cinema often circulate around the lives and realities of the social elite, inadvertently distancing themselves from the lived experiences of marginalized communities, particularly Dalits, Adivasis, and other socially disadvantaged groups. While mainstream stories resonate with a wide array of audiences by depicting struggles against poverty and adversity, they seldom align with the socio-cultural realities of the Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasis (DBA) groups.
The Monopoly of Mainstream Hitmakers
Bollywood is globally recognized for its unique concoction of music, dance, and drama. Big-budget films featuring major stars boast remarkable box office revenues, overshadowing cinema that embraces creative content and social realism. This prevailing narrative is adeptly leveraged to detract critics from scrutinizing the intellectual and artistic merits of films, their capacity for audience engagement, and the meaningful representation of diverse social demographics. Moreover, it overshadows the industry’s habitual neglect of DBA characters, their narratives, and aspirations, both in front of and behind the camera.
A Glaring Omission
An analysis of top Bollywood blockbusters, from “Jawan” to “Pathaan”, reveals a clear pattern; the leads are predominantly from upper-caste backgrounds. Indeed, even among the prolific careers of stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Akshay Kumar, the representation of the DBA community remains strikingly rare. This absence of DBA stories reflects a broader trend within the industry, reinforcing the dominance of upper-caste narratives and marginalizing DBA voices.
The Audience’s Acceptance
It is apparent that audiences also remain complicit, comfortably digesting the repetitive stories where heroes and guardians of cultural and moral values represent the social elite. Scarcely does one find cinema that delves into the stark realities of caste discrimination, untouchability, or violence against women of the Dalit community. Despite the significant role DBA groups play in political and social arenas, their representation in the Hindi cinema industry remains conspicuously lacking, reducing them to passive consumers rather than active influencers in cinematic storytelling.
The Industry’s Exclusive Club
Bollywood operates much like a capitalist enterprise, crafting films for mass consumption, with profits largely accruing to a privileged elite. This has effectively turned the film industry into a fiefdom of the few, excluding other potential participants. Admittedly, the DBA community watches these movies, often encountering characters whose social elite status renders DBA stories and heroes incongruent with mainstream cinematic portrayals.
Behind the Silver Screen
The rarity of DBA presence on-screen suggests an equally concerning absence behind the scenes. The narratives, struggles, and aspirations of DBA communities are not of interest to a majority of filmmakers, writers, and technical crew. To foster a more democratic cinema, it is essential to incorporate the concerns of these groups into storytelling and to ensure their more significant representation in the filmmaking process, much like the inclusion of Muslim voices has enriched the industry with a distinctive genre of Muslim social films.
Pioneers of Change
Directors such as Pa Ranjith, Nagraj Manjule, and Mari Selvaraj have birthed a nascent ‘Dalit genre’ within the Tamil and Marathi film industries. These filmmakers have introduced fresh storytelling techniques, robust DBA characters, and socially relevant narratives. Yet, whether this emergence will permeate Bollywood and democratize it remains an open question.
To truly reflect the diversity of Indian society, Hindi cinema must begin to earnestly represent the lives of DBA groups, both on the screen and through the equitable distribution of industry profits and privileges. Only then can it claim to be a democratic and inclusive domain true to the myriad experiences that comprise the nation’s cultural mosaic.
