Film: India Untouched
INDIA UNTOUCHED will make it impossible for anyone in India to deny that Untouchability is still practiced today. Director Stalin K. and his team spent four years traveling the length and breadth of India to bear witness to the continued exclusion and segregation of those considered as ‘Untouchables’ .
The film introduces leading Benares scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits ‘have no right’ to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that the police must seek their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities on Dalits. The film captures many ‘firsts-on-film, ‘ such as Dalits being forced to dismount from their cycles and remove their shoes when in the upper caste part of the village.
It exposes the continuation of caste practices and Untouchability in Sikhism, Christianity and Islam, amongst the Communists in Kerala and within some of India’s most revered academic and professional institutions.
In an age where the media projects only one image of a ‘rising’ or ‘poised’ India, this film reminds us how far the country is from being an equal society. Traveling through eight states and four religions, this film is perhaps the deepest exploration of caste oppression ever undertaken on film.
Stalin K is a human rights activist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. He is the Co-Founder of DRISHTI- Media, Arts and Human Rights, Convener of the Community Radio Forum-India, and the India Director of Video Volunteers. He is a renowned public speaker and has lectured or taught at over 20 institutions ranging from the National Institute of Design and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India, to New York University and Stanford and Berkeley in the US.
INDIA UNTOUCHED is Stalin’s second film on the issue of caste – his earlier film ‘Lesser Humans’, on manual scavenging, won the Silver Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival and the Excellence Award at Earth Vision Film Festival, Tokyo, and helped to bring international attention to the issue of caste.
Please click below to watch the video `Lesser Human’; Stalins 1st 12th creation. Source:IDSN and Dalit.Org
Filed under: dalit story | 5 Comments
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..the bleeding eyes
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where/when is the new film available?
Dear Joe,
DVDs of this film are available at Drishti: *103, Anand Hari Tower,Sandesh Press Road, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380054, India. +91-79-2685 1235 and 6661 4235
Hope you get them with ease; else inform our team at
atrocity@cootoad.com
Dear Atrocity team,
Thank you so much for carrying information on my new film – INDIA UNTOUCHED. I just want to make one small correction in your write up: in the last line you say “Please click below to watch the video `Lesser Human’; Stalins first creation”. Lesser Humans is NOT my first creation! Its my 12th creation and India Untouched in my 15th film!
Thank you once again.
In harmony,
Stalin
Dear Stalin,
Its been great to hear from you,
We would do the needful,
thanks again
with rgds,
Atrocitynews team
Dear Team:
I’m considering using this film as a ‘text’ in a course on Dalit Literature and culture which I’m going to teach this Fall at University of Texas-Austin.
I appreciate if you could let me know the details of its availability in the US.
Awaiting your reply
Afsar