'Dhadak 2' Is a Radical Anti-Caste Project

Note: This article contains some spoilers on Dhadak 2.

The world of Bollywood has over the decades conveniently erased the question of caste and denied a space for B.R. Ambedkar, the towering Indian democrat and anti-caste icon. The Hindi film industry has predominantly catered to the sensibilities of the privileged and kept its stories detached from social questions. The sanitised urban aesthetic charm of an apolitical GenZ has been given growing acceptability in Hindi films and conveniently sidelined the lived realities of the margin.

In fact, popular narratives against the socially marginal assertions for equality, liberty and justice found cinematic representations while politics of identity assertions and social justice are abandoned. In the last few years, with the rise of right-wing political and cultural forces, more and more anti-caste struggles have been countered with caste-based insensitivities and Hindu supremacism. So much so that the upper-caste communities are extended an 'EWS quota' by leaving out Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes.

Assertion of Ambedkarite ideology

Merely three months after Anant Mahadevan’s Phule released in April, Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2 released on August 1 brought Bollywood closer to the social realities of caste hierarchies. Iqbal’s film zooms in on the ‘unequal’ inter-caste relationship between Dalit male lead Neelesh Ahirwar (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Brahmin female lead Nidhi Bhardwaj (Tripti Dimri). The very first scene starts with a sight of the couple spending time together, while the camera slowly highlights the door where 'Jai Bhim' is written prominently, to publicly assert Ambedkarite ideology. Immediately, in the next scene, there is an attempt on the man's life by a delivery man who was angered by the Dalit political assertion and an inter-caste relationship. Later the delivery guy turns out to be an upper-caste contract killer, Shankar, a self-styled advocate of caste purity.

Dhadak 2 is released at a time when Dalits are mourning the dishonour killing of Tamil Dalit youth Kavin Selva Ganesh for being in an inter-caste relationship with a dominant caste woman. In contrast to these tragic realities, Neelesh survives in Dhadak 2, despite quite a few attempts on his life by Vidhi’s lawyer father to uphold the ‘Brahmin gene’. Most surprisingly, Iqbal has created spaces for Ambedkar throughout the backdrop of the film, and slowly yet steadily centred the film on Dalit dignity, Ambedkarite politics on campus and Dalit rage against casual casteism. What stands out in the film is director’s conscious attempt at empowerment and giving agency to Vidhi. She constantly challenges Brahminical patriarchy at home, at family gatherings and in the law university campus.

Also read: CBFC Suggests 16 Cuts to Dhadak 2, Alters Dialogues Referring to Caste-Based Discrimination

It was heartwarming to see how Iqbal has recognised Dalit women’s sociopolitical agency and acknowledged Dr Ambedkar’s role in it. Neelesh’s mother is a staunch Ambedkarite woman who is seen to be encouraging her son after he faces police brutality and custodial torture. She quotes the iconic example of Dr Ambedkar to encourage Neelesh to study law, telling her son, "Babasaheb ko koi haat nehi laaga paya, kyuki woh barrister tha’ (Nobody could do anything to Babasaheb because he was a barrister)."

The urgency of Ambedkarite politics on campus

Dhadak 2 has not missed a single chance to capture growing Ambedkarite politics and anti-caste awareness to counter casteist notions of merit and anti-reservationists on the Indian higher education campuses, especially after the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula. Iqbal’s nuanced understanding of campus politics is remarkable. Dhadak 2 has captured the scholarship crisis, issue of disbursals and how that brutally affects SC/ST/OBC students. Iqbal’s portrayal of Shekhar, an Ambedkarite activist and leader of the Ambedkar Students' Union on a national law university campus, is well thought out and an embodiment of Kanshiram’s 'bhagidari politics' and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar’s politics of radical Dalit assertion against the right-wing caste Hindutva juggernaut. The suspension and subsequent social isolation of Shekhar and his comrades on campus is also imagined through Vemula’s politics against institutionalised caste discrimination.

The film goes beyond the traditional caricature of Dalit reductionism, and is focused heavily on Dalit empowerment and upliftment and nurturing women to take up the project of annihilation of caste. Vidhi is Dimri’s strongest character yet, as Neelesh is Chaturvedi’s. Through Dhadak 2, the director has ensured three critical shifts in making caste-centred films for the future: interrogation of caste privilege; nurturing upper-caste women to outrage against the Brahminical casteism and patriarchy in both private and public spheres; and confronting caste-based hostilities with an empowered voice.

Dhadak 2 ticked almost all the checkboxes, but fell short in avoiding stereotype of the Dalit face. Darkening and tanning Chaturvedi's face was nor required to establish Neelesh's 'Dalitness'. Bollywood needs Dalit directors, producers and actors, so that Dalit representation is ensured through self-esteem and lived experiences. Though the film is an adaptation of Mari Selvaraj’s Pariyerum Perumal, it goes beyond the original on many occasions in terms of empowering the characters, but falls a little short in bringing Ambedkar from background to the forefront of discussions. Despite this, Iqbal should be lauded for projecting Ambedkar as an emancipator throughout her film. From naming Neelesh’s band the ‘Bhim Baaza Dhol Boys’ to calling the Dalit slum ‘Bhimnagar’, it was a strong message delivered.

Dhadak 2 is a radical anti-caste project. Iqbal's well thought through direction will be reckoned with in Bollywood and regional film industries like Tollywood in the days to come. It’s depressing that the film like this couldn’t generate much discussion and debates among the young, as they remain engulfed in Saiyaara.

Subhajit Naskar is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

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