Bonington Gallery is delighted to host the culmination of this year’s CADALFEST (Celebrating Adivasi and Dalit Arts and Literature Festival).
After two successful festivals between 2022-24, at locations within the UK and India, this third instalment will culminate with a two-day programme of screenings, discussions, workshops and masterclasses at Bonington Gallery, offering audiences a closer, more sustained engagement with contributors than on previous occasions.
This new, more interactive format will allow audiences to work closely, and embark on a two-day journey, with the filmmaker Jayan K. Cherian, the writers and poets Gogu Shyamala and Jitendra Vasava, the writers and researchers Gopika Jadeja and Priteegandha Naik, as well as the Jangama Collective.
This year’s festival also celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the network on Dalit and Adivasi literature that was launched by the first conference on Dalit literature at Nottingham Trent University in June 2014.
10 am – 12 pm: Gopika Jadeja and Jitendra Vasava, ‘Adivasi lives in forest, village, city’.
Jitendra Vasava and Gopika Jadeja have been working over the past decade to translate and publish Adivasi poetry from western India, including Vasava’s own poetry. Beginning with a song in celebration of the Earth, Vasava and Jadeja will weave through Vasava’s poetry in Dehwali Bhili and English translation, video footage of readings by other Adivasi poets and reflections on poetry, orality and Adivasi struggles.
1 – 3 pm: Screening of Rhythm of Dammam, a film by Jayan K. Cherian, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
In Uttara Kannada, India, Jayaram Siddi, a twelve-year-old boy, is believed to be possessed by the spirit of his late grandfather, Rama Bantu Siddi. Despite seeking help from local black magicians, Jayaram’s condition remains unchanged. He escapes into a dream world, using ‘magical’ instruments from his grandfather to connect with his ancestors. However, he becomes overwhelmed by the agonizing history of his ancestors’ chattel slavery, losing touch with reality. Jayaram drops out of school, and his family strives to restore his balance by embracing tribal rituals and Dammam music, both vital to their cultural heritage. The film delves into Jayaram’s struggle with intergenerational trauma, emphasizing the challenges faced by him and his family in finding healing and stability.
Rhythm of Dammam is a groundbreaking production that brings to light the little-known Siddi community of India, also known as the Sheedi or Habshi, who primarily reside in regions like Karnataka, Gujarat, and Hyderabad in Telangana. The Siddi people trace their ancestry to the Bantu people from Southeast Africa, who were enslaved by Portuguese traders and brought to the Indian subcontinent between 1530 and 1740. While slavery was declared illegal in British India by 1835 (and continued until 1865 in Portuguese-controlled Goa), the Siddi people endured a different form of bondage within India’s complex caste system after abolition.
Despite some progress in Indian society, the Siddi community continues to experience discrimination and marginalization, limiting their social and economic mobility due to their position within the caste hierarchy. Nevertheless, the Siddi people have shown remarkable resilience in preserving their unique cultural identity. They have achieved this by maintaining their ancestral customs while incorporating elements of Indian culture, particularly traditional Dammam music and tribal rituals. The journey of the Siddi people—from enslavement to current caste-based challenges—is a moving tale of determination and survival. It highlights the enduring impact of societal oppression while showcasing the strength of cultural heritage and community solidarity. The film Rhythm of Dammam offers a fresh perspective on the complex dynamics of caste, race, and identity in contemporary Indian society. It encourages viewers to question their preconceptions and biases while acknowledging the resilience of the human spirit in its pursuit of dignity and freedom.
3:30 – 5:30 pm: Masterclass with Jayan K. Cherian.
In this interactive masterclass, Jayan K. Cherian will focus on the logistics of independent filmmaking in a remote village setting—navigating limited infrastructure, working with non-professional actors, and building a creative process rooted in mutual trust. He will also share insights from his experience living and working with the Siddi community—how they prepared documentary subjects to step into fictional roles and developed the screenplay through oral histories, local legends, and the mythologies shared by elders. These became the foundation for a story that reflects the community’s collective memory, while also raising questions about who gets to represent whom, and how (the politics of representation in cinema).
10 am – 12:30 pm: Priteegandha Naik’s workshop ‘Reclaiming Tomorrows: Liberation through Dalit Futurism’.
This workshop aims to re-imagine and rewrite the intended telos of the caste system as envisioned by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. It will employ speculative fiction to resist, challenge, and create anti-caste futures. The workshop uses Dalit futurism as a toolkit to build blueprints of tomorrows and bring them to life. It will use Dalit futurism to critique, dream, and create new narratives of hopeful and collaborative futures.
1:30 – 3:30 pm: Gogu Shyamala’s presentation ‘Pain resonates in speculative fiction’ and conversation with Priteegandha Naik, chaired by Basma Mahfoud-Vandermeersh.
In this presentation with poems, songs and stories, Gogu Shyamala will engage in a dialogue with the writings by Dalit women who unveil mundane lived and shared experiences of those who are located at the lowest strata of society and whose lives are coloured by divisions of class, caste and gender. The context of this intersectional oppression of Dalit women is a civil society that is fragmented by religion, while caste compartmentalises India into 3000 fragments and about 25,000 subdivisions. Unlike religion, the division among castes is invisible but firmly in place. This systematic division, called the ‘Caste System’, is premised on codification of the five-fold varna system. This codification subscribes to an ideology of divisions in a hierarchy akin to a vertical ladder, naturalising and internalising the idea of purity and pollution of castes by religion, effecting untouchability and inhumanity. All top four varnas thereby humiliate the last varna in terms of the economy, ethnicity, culture and assertion.
Gogu Shyamala will discuss how the form of speculative fiction is well suited to explore all these caste contradictions and dichotomies in order to create anti-caste literature and the history of contemporary conditions. She will draw on poems and songs as well as her recently published short story, “The Phantom Ladder” (in translation from Telugu by Divya Kalavala), in The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF by BLAFT Publications.
4 – 6 pm: Jangama Collective, represented by Lakshmana K P and Mohit Kaycee, screening of the play DaklaKatha DeviKavya, followed by a discussion with Lakshmana K P and Mohit Kaycee.
Daklakatha Devikavya is an experimental play drawing on the epic poetry and stories of the important Kannada writer and founder-member of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, K.B. Siddaiah. This experimental piece begins with a re- reading of a cosmogonic myth from a community that is oppressed even amongst the oppressed narrating the origins of the world and of life on it. The play progresses through weaving and unravelling untouchable rituals, beliefs, hunger and desires through song and storytelling. For untouchable communities nudi (speech, sound, voice, and word) is like breath that cannot be separated from the body. The play uses instruments such as the areye and tamte as vines of nudi that enmesh the narrative and sprout new directions from within. Thereby opening up the untouchable world as a world of deep sonic imprints. In a context such as this, the play confronts what happens when the ‘written word’ that has so far been unreachable collides with and becomes an organ of the untouchable body, giving rise to a new relationship of intimacy and struggle. The play provokes an exploration of how the received insights through the experience of untouchability and the ‘written word’ force us to confront what it means to be human in the depths of our being.
Jayan Cherian, from Kerala, holds an MFA in filmmaking from The City College of New York as well as a BA in film and creative writing from Hunter College. He has received numerous honours and recognition for his cinematic works, which have been featured at prestigious film festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, BFI London Lesbian Gay Film Festival, NARA International Film Festival, Rio-de-Janeiro International Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, and Montreal World Film Festival. His career features notable titles including Ka Bodyscapes (2016), Papilio Buddha (2014), The Shape of the Shapeless (2010), and the latest Rhythm of Dammam (2024). He has also contributed significantly to numerous documentaries and short films over the course of his career.
Basma Mahfoud-Vandermeersch is an ESL teacher based in Paris and pursuing a PhD at Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry (France) in co-supervision with BITS Pilani Goa (India). Her research focuses on the production and reception of translated Dalit writings by women from South India and the diaspora. While looking at the articulation of caste in migration, she is also interested in exploring the possibilities of transnational collaboration, dialogue, and creation between marginalized communities (Dalits x Blacks x Queers x Muslims x Adivasis).
Dr Gopika Jadeja is a bilingual poet and translator and writing in English and Gujarati, active both in her native India and internationally. As part of a broadly engaged creative, scholarly and pedagogical practice, Gopika is Editor-at-Large (Singapore) for Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing and Coordinating Editor of the journal PR&TA: Practice, Research and Tangential Activities—a peer-reviewed journal of creative practice with a focus on SE Asia based in Singapore. Besides this, she publishes and edits a print journal and a series of pamphlets that are part of a performance-publishing project called ‘Five Issues’. A recipient of the inaugural PEN Presents Award (South Asia) and the Charles Wallace Scholarship for Creative Writing, Gopika’s poetry and translations have been published in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Wasafiri, Cordite Poetry Review, Indian Literature, Sahcharya, Vahi, etc. Her work has also appeared in anthologies like The Art and Craft of Asian Stories: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology, A Thousand Cranes for India: Reclaiming Plurality Amid Hatred, No News: 90 Poets Reflect on a Unique BBC Newscast, The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF, etc. Gopika is currently working on a project of English translations of poetry from Gujarat, including Dalit and Adivasi poetry as well as a monograph based on her doctoral research. Her collection of poetry, What Parvati Does Not Say is forthcoming from Red River Press, India.
Judith Misrahi-Barak is Professor in Postcolonial Studies at the English Department, Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry, France. She is a member of the research centre EMMA, and her areas of specialisation and publication are Anglophone Caribbean, Indo- and Sino-Caribbean literatures, diaspora and migrant writing, and Dalit literatures. Her monograph in French is entitled Entre Atlantique et océan Indien : les voix de la Caraïbe anglophone (Classiques Garnier, 2021). She is Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network Series ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’ and its Follow-on Grant ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’. She is also General Editor of the series PoCoPages (Pulm, Montpellier) and she has co-edited special issues for The Journal of Commonwealth Literature (‘Dalit Literature’, 2019) and for Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (‘Thanatic Ethics’, 2023). Among the volumes she has co-edited are the recent Kala Pani Crossings: Revisiting 19th century Migrations from India’s Perspective (Routledge, 2021), Kala Pani Crossings, Gender and Diaspora: Indian Perspectives (Routledge, 2023) and The Routledge Companion to Caste and Cinema in India (Routledge, 2023).
Shohini Barman is a Doctoral Candidate at the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University. She completed her Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in English from Jadavpur University (Kolkata, India). Her current research is on Dalit Literature in Bengal.
Mrigakshi Das is a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her research focuses on the assertion of Adivasi identity in Adivasi literature and cinema, with broader interests in Adivasi and Indigenous studies. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Delhi, India.
Dr Priteegandha Naik is an Assistant Professor at the Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, NMIMS University, where she teaches Communication Skills and other Humanities-centric courses. She is interested in exploring caste and gender in Indian Science Fiction. In particular, she has worked on Dalit Futurism and on understanding Dalit futures in speculative fiction, art, literature, and film and their consequent relevance to the anti-caste movement.
Dr Gogu Shyamala is one of the foremost contemporary Dalit writers in India, as an award-winning author, researcher, editor, and biographer writing in Telugu. Her collection of short stories Father may be an elephant and mother only a small basket, but… in English translation is a landmark in Indian literature, and her most recent publication is the short story ‘The Phantom Ladder’ (in translation from Telugu by Divya Kalavala), in The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF. Among her publications are anthologies of Dalit women’s writings in Telugu, and the biography of the first Dalit woman legislator, T.N. Sadalakshmi in the former state of Andhra Pradesh, India. She is the co-editor of the Oxford Anthology of Telugu Dalit Writing in English (OUP). She holds a PhD in the area of Dalit Women Biographies, Gender and Caste in Telangana, from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She studies Dalit women’s literature and the history and mythology of Dalit literature as well as collecting palm leaf manuscripts of Dalit Puranas for contemporary scholarly studies.
Dr Nicole Thiara is Senior Lecturer in English at Nottingham Trent University, UK, and Co-Lead of the Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group as well as Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network Series ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’ (2014-16) and its Follow-on Grant ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’ (2020-23). She teaches postcolonial and contemporary literature, and her area of research is Dalit, Adivasi and diasporic South Asian literature; her current research project is on the representation of modernity in Dalit literature. Her recent publications include ‘The Caste of Nature: Wholesome Bodies and Parasites in Bimal Roy’s Sujata and Gogu Shyamala’s “A Beauteous Light”, The Routledge Companion to Caste and Cinema in India, ed. by Judith Misrahi-Barak and Joshil K. Abraham (Routledge, 2023) and, with Judith Misrahi-Barak and K. Satyanarayana, the critical volume Dalit Text: Aesthetics and Politics Re-imagined (Routledge, 2019) and the special issue on Dalit Literature in the Journal of Commonwealth Literature 54 (1), March 2019.
Dr Jitendra Vasava is a poet from Mahupada village Narmada district of Gujarat, who writes in Dehwali Bhili, Hindi and Gujarati. He is the founding president of Adivasi Sahitya Academy and edits Lakhara, a magazine dedicated to Adivasi voices. Following his doctoral research on the cultural and mythological aspects of Dehwali Bhili oral narratives he is doing research on the environmental knowledge systems of the Bhils as a post-doctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar. He has published five books on Adivasi oral literature, an anthology of Adivasi poetry from Gujarat and a book of poetry.
Jangama Collective is a Bangalore-based group of theatre artists with diverse cultural backgrounds who believe in creating cultural and political awareness choosing theatre as their way of expression. As an extension of this, the group has engaged itself in creative processes like education, literature, publishing, cinema and social struggles.
Lakshmana K P, founder member of Jangama Collective is an actor, director, poet, and performance educator from Karnataka, India. He graduated from the Intercultural Theatre Institute Singapore in 2018 and from Ninasam Theatre Institute in 2012. Lakshman has been exploring questions around Dalit aesthetics in performance, and his two recent plays We the People of India and Daklakatha Devikavya explore intersecting questions about Dalit political modernity and cultural memory.
Santosh Dindaguru is from Dindaguru of Channarayapattana-taluk-Karnataka. He holds a diploma from Ninasam and a master’s degree in Drama. He was inspired by Babasaheb Ambedkar’s thoughts and has persistently tried to bring awareness about caste discrimination and its impact on the society through poems, stories and plays. He is the founder of “Neladani”, an organization in his village-Dindaguru. Santosh is a recipient of DeccanHerald ChangeMaker-Award in 2023. Currently he is working as a theatre teacher in Poorna Learning Center in Bangalore.
Bharath Dingri is from Ashapura, Raichur District-Karnataka. He was introduced to the Songs of Resistance at a very young age by his father who is a street play artist and grew up traveling to different villages and regions and played the Tamate along with his father during performances. Having worked in well-known repertories in Karnataka, he did his Diploma from Ninasam. He also has a Diploma in Journalism.
Bindu Raxidi is from Raxidi of Sakaleshapura-taluk-Karnataka who grew up as a child artist. She completed her BBM. Later she worked in BPO agency in Mangalore. She holds a Diploma from Ninasam Theatre Institute and went on to be a part of Ninasam-Tirugaata Repertory for three years. She founded a theatre team called “Act-React” in Bangalore. She has established herself as an actress in Kannada and Tulu Cinema Industry and in Kannada theatre.
Ramika Chaithra is from Bangalore, Karnataka who has been doing theatre for the past 8 years. She completed her theatre course from Banna Abhinaya Rangashaale and attended various theatre workshops in Bangalore. She has acted in various theatre groups and also went on to act in TV serials and Cinema. After completing her B.Com., she has taken up acting and modelling as her profession.
Narasimharaju B K originating from Bevinahalli Sira, Karnataka, Narasimharaju’s expertise lies in playing the areye (urume). He comes from a lineage of areye players, having started when he was 6 years old. He commonly performs in festivals and ceremonies, and he has performed the areye in a contemporary performance setting in Singapore for a dance piece ’Yahi’. He also holds a master’s degree in Kannada literature and a bachelor’s in Education.
Shwetha Rani HK is a theatre practitioner from Hassan, working in theatre for the past 11 Years. She holds a Diploma in theatre by Ninasam and the National School of Drama, New Delhi, specialization in acting. She worked as an actress and technician in Ninasam, Shivsanchara and Janamanadaata Reportry Companies. She taught in Ninasam for two years. Currently, she is teaching and also the Principal of Sri Shivakumara Rangaprayoga Shaale, Sanehalli.
Poorvi Kalyani is a singer, composer and actor who grew up in the presence of theatre from a very young age as her parents are from Professional modern Theatre. Formally trained in theatre music by her mother, she later on practiced Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music. She is also a dancer who is trained in Bharatanatyam. Along with being an artist, she has also chosen a career in Finance and has a working experience in GST and is currently pursuing her law degree.
Mohit Kaycee is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Anthropology of Religion at Columbia University. Previously he worked at India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) and the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP) at National Law School (NLSIU), Bangalore. Since 2012 Mohit has been closely associated with Kotiganahalli Ramaiah and his work in pedagogy and performance at Terahalli Hill in Kolar. He has also worked on documenting ritual cultures, oral-performative practices, and textual collections of marginal communities across Karnataka.
Skanda Ghate is from Bangalore. He began his theatre journey from a very young age and has been consistently working in Kannada Theatre since then. After completing his engineering degree, he decided to take up theatre as a profession and finished his diploma in theatre arts from Ninasam. Currently he is a member of Jangama Collective and has been a part of various plays and productions in different capacities.
Sriharsha G N is a Bangalore based theatre artist. Software Engineer by profession, he has worked in several theatre productions in Kannada, English and Hindi languages. He is currently a volunteer at Jangama Collective and Artists Conservatory.
Manju Narayan has been a Bangalore based freelance theatre practitioner in the lighting department for the past 15 years. He has been working with different genres such as classical and contemporary dance, ramp walk, and puppetry, predominantly in Kannada plays. Manju Narayan also holds PG in English from Bangalore University, a Diploma in theatre, a Diploma in Ambedkar studies, and a Diploma in Gandhi studies from the same University.
Sachin Ranganath is a Bangalore based theatre light designer. Civil Engineer by profession, he has worked in several theatre productions in Kannada.
Manoj Kumar K. is from Channarayapatna of Hassan district. From his schooling days, he learned Yaskshagana and performed in many plays across Dakshina Kannada. Along with his Bachelor’s, he has got a Diploma in Theatre arts from SDM College, Ujire. He is a Banker by profession. His major theatre plays are – A Mid-Summer Night’s dream, Maduve Hennu, Shashtravyuahagalu, Ooru-Keri, Krishna Sandhana, We the people of India.
Chandra Shekhara K, founder member of Jangama Collective, is an Actor, Director, Musician and teacher from Karnataka, India. He graduated from Ninasam theatre institute Karnataka and he has a Master’s Degree in performing arts from Bangalore University. He has been traveling across the world performing. He has performed in many national and international theatre festivals in India and abroad.
Image at top of page: Film still from Rhythm of Dammam (2024), directed by Jayan K. Cherian.
Organised by Neeraj Bunkar, a PhD student in the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University, The Dalit and Adivasi Film Festival (DAFF) 2025 is a platform to showcase dynamic and transformative works in visual culture created by Dalit and Adivasi filmmakers. These communities have a significant tradition of storytelling, yet their voices are often marginalised or overlooked in mainstream film circuits. DAFF seeks to amplify their narratives, perspectives, and creative expressions by bringing their work to a broader audience.
More than just a celebration of cinema, DAFF 2025 aims to foster critical engagement and dialogue. The festival will present a curated selection of twelve films, including documentaries, short films, and docu-fictions, all crafted by Dalit and Adivasi filmmakers. Each screening will be followed by interactive discussions with the filmmakers, providing an opportunity for audiences to engage with the socio-political realities explored in their work.
We dedicate DAFF 2025 to the memory of P. K. Rosy, the first actress of Malayalam cinema and a pioneering figure in the industry.
The festival will feature five sessions, commencing with the acclaimed film Swapnaayanam, directed by K.O. Akhil, the signature film of the 2024 International Film Festival of Kerala. This not only pays tribute to P. K. Rosy as a trailblazer in Malayalam cinema but also highlights the historical contributions of the working class in shaping the cinematic landscape.
Join us in celebrating cinema that amplifies marginalized voices and honours the enduring legacies of Dalit and Adivasi communities.
All screenings and discussions are online and can be accessed via the links below.
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD scholar at the School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on caste, Dalit identity, Rajasthani folklore, oral history, and cinema, with a particular emphasis on Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from his standpoint as a Ambedkarite. His writings include the article “Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’” (2022) in the PostScript section and the book review “Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change” (2024), both published in Economic and Political Weekly. He also contributes regularly to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
Pratik Parmar is an anti-caste filmmaker from Gujarat, renowned for his compelling narratives on Dalit dissent, deeply rooted in the heartlands of his home state. Since 2014, Pratik has been dedicated to filmmaking, shedding light on the often-overlooked stories of resistance and resilience within marginalized communities. His work amplifies ongoing struggles that are frequently ignored by mainstream media and cinema.
Prashant More is a filmmaker from a Dalit family and a first-generation learner. He graduated in Direction from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, where he honed his craft. His work has been showcased at several film festivals, including the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), Bangalore International Film Festival, and the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart, Germany. His feature screenplay was selected for the Writers Ink Feature Film Screenplay Writing Lab 2024-25. Based in Mumbai, Prashant explores themes of identity, caste, social issues, and human experience, aiming to bring diverse perspectives to the screen for both local and global audiences.
Palani Kumar, hailing from Jawaharlal Puram in Madurai, pursued engineering to fulfill his mother’s wish but found his passion in photography. While still a student, he took a loan to buy his first camera and later worked as a cinematographer for Kakoos, a documentary on manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu. His first photography exhibition, Naanum Oru Kullanthai, highlighted the lives of manual scavengers’ children. Since 2019, as a fellow of the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), he has been documenting the lives of working-class women across India. He is also part of Pep Collective, a forum for socially responsible photographers. Recognized as one of Anandha Vikatan’s ‘Top Ten Humans 2019,’ he has received multiple accolades, including the Dayanita Singh-PARI Documentary Photography Award (2022). Kumar’s work was recently featured at the Primary Gallery in Nottingham, where he was invited to discuss his personal journey and projects addressing issues such as manual scavenging, “honour killings”, and the systemic exploitation of working-class and Dalit communities. Through his photography, he continues to amplify the voices of marginalized communities.
K.O. Akhil is an independent writer, director and cinematographer based in Mumbai. He holds a master’s degree in Cinematography from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune (2018 batch), and has also studied at KRNNIVSA, Kerala. His artistic journey began at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, where he graduated with honours in Communication Design. His talent for visual storytelling emerged early in his career when his graduation project, a hybrid short film titled Incarnate Deity, which explores the mystical Theyyam ritual of Kerala, earned him the Best Communication Design Project Award in 2016 at NIFT Delhi.
Oneiric Odyssey (1 min, Swapnaayanam) traces the origins of Malayalam cinema, from the historic announcement of the first screening of Vigathakumaran (The Lost Child) in a rural village to the emergence of a new theatre in the city of Trivandrum. Through the courageous legacy of P.K. Rosy, Malayalam cinema’s first actress, and the struggles of the working class, the film crescendos with the unveiling of Lanka Lakshmi – the iconic symbol of IFFK, representing unity, cultural diversity, and the enduring strength of cinema.
Udmashan, a short film directed by Prashant More (5 mins, English), is a psychological thriller about a young writer chasing a lead on a rainy night who stumbles into a surreal nightmare in a decaying chawl. Strange figures blur reality, plunging her into darkness and madness. Truth or ruin—what awaits?
Ranjis, a short film directed by Prashant More (15 mins, Ahirani & Marathi): In rural India, 10-year-old Manoj endures caste oppression and family turmoil. His scavenger father’s rage and society’s cruelty push him to the edge. A discarded object becomes his escape—until a final, explosive act of defiance changes everything.
Project Heartland, a documentary directed by Pratik Parmar (44 Mins, Gujarati), captures the struggles of people from marginalized communities, primarily Dalits in Gujarat. It highlights the courage and determination of Dalit women and men as they assert their rights despite overwhelming odds. By documenting these stories of resilience, Project Heartland seeks to ensure that these brave individuals are known, recognized, and serve as an inspiration to others.
Shohini Barman is a doctoral candidate in the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University. She completed her BA and MA at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her PhD research focuses on Dalit literature in Bengal.
Lipika Singh Darai is an Indian filmmaker, editor, and sound recordist from Odisha. She graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 2010, specializing in sound recording and design. Belonging to the Ho indigenous community, Darai has focused her work on socio-cultural themes, particularly those related to Odisha. Throughout her career, Darai has received four National Film Awards in the non-feature section for direction, sound recording, and narration. Her debut film, A Tree a Man a Sea (2012), earned her the Best Debut Film of a Director award. She continued to explore pressing social issues in her subsequent works, such as Some Stories Around Witches (2015), which delves into the humanitarian crisis of witch-hunts in Odisha, and The Waterfall (2017), a short fiction film highlighting the struggle to protect a dying waterfall. In 2023, Darai’s documentary Night and Fear premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Ammodo Tiger Short competition. She is currently developing her debut fiction feature, Birdwoman, which has received support from the Hubert Bals Development Fund. Additionally, she was recognized as one of the ten creative talents in BAFTA Breakthrough India 2023. Darai’s work is deeply rooted in the cultural and social landscapes of Odisha, reflecting her commitment to bringing regional stories to a broader audience. Her films often explore themes of social justice, cultural heritage, and the resilience of marginalized communities.
Seral Murmu is a filmmaker who graduated from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. His films focus on tribal issues, identity, and the struggle for equality and justice. Through his work, he aims to strengthen the tribal resistance movements taking place across different parts of India. Belonging to the Santhal tribe, Seral Murmu was born and raised in Ghatshila, a small town on the banks of the Subarnarekha River. He began his journey in filmmaking by assisting documentary filmmakers while pursuing an undergraduate degree in Mass Communications at St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi, Jharkhand. During this time, he closely observed the power of cinema as a medium for change, which inspired him to become a filmmaker and share his own stories with the world. Ranchi has been an epicentre for tribal activists fighting for their rights and justice. Murmu became closely associated with these activists, collaborating with them and creating documentaries to amplify the voices of the unheard. As a cinematographer and editor, he has contributed to the making of eight documentaries and short fiction films. His short films Rawaah and Sondhayni have been screened and received awards at both national and international film festivals. He is currently working on a feature-length documentary about the history of Santhali cinema. Additionally, he has been commissioned to make two documentaries for the Ramdayal Munda Tribal Research Institute in Ranchi and is developing a feature-length Santali film. Murmu has a deep interest in tribal folklore, myths, arts, and folk songs, all of which serve as the foundation of his storytelling.
Mrigakshi Das hailing from Odisha, India, is a doctoral candidate at the School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, UK. She holds both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delhi, India. Her current research focuses on Adivasi literature, and her thesis is titled “Adivasi Literature and Cinema: Exploring Adivasi Alterity and Assertion”. Her areas of interest include Dalit literature, Adivasi literature, and decolonial and postcolonial studies.
Dr Nicole Thiara is Co-lead of Nottingham Trent University’s Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group and Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network Series ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’ and its Follow-on Grant ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’. She teaches postcolonial and contemporary literature at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her area of research is Dalit and South Asian literature, and her current research project is the representation of modernity in Dalit literature.
Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak is a Professor of Postcolonial Studies at Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, France, specializing in Caribbean, Indo- and Sino-Caribbean literatures, diaspora, and migrant writing. She has published widely, contributing to volumes such as Tracing the New Indian Diaspora (2014), Turning Tides (2019), and Windrush (1948) and Rivers of Blood (1968): Legacy and Assessment (2019). She is the General Editor of the PoCoPages series (Borders and Ecotones in the Indian Ocean, 2020). Her latest works include chapters on Edwidge Danticat (Bloomsbury Handbook, 2021), Sino-Caribbean literature (Caribbean Quarterly, 2021), and Kala Pani Crossings (co-edited, 2021). Her monograph, Entre Atlantique et océan Indien: les voix de la Caraïbe anglophone, was published in 2021. Her recent research explores Dalit literatures, having co-led AHRC projects on Dalit and Adivasi literature and performance (2014–23). She co-edited The Routledge Companion to Caste in Cinema in India (2022).
The Waterfall (21 mins, 2017, English) traces the evolution of a young city boy, Karun, to appreciate the value of the environment as well as think critically about climate change and development. On a trip to his ancestral home in the interiors of the state of Orissa in India, he reflects on the nature of his relationship with a beautiful landscape and its relationship in turn with his city life.
Sasandiri (40 mins, Mundari and Hindi) tells the story of the tribal rights movement in Jharkhand, following the work and struggles of prominent tribal activists from within the community. The title Sasandiri refers to a tombstone, which also serves as a landholding marker and record for the tribals. The film delves into the lives of these activists as they fight for their community’s rights, highlighting their struggles, challenges, and triumphs. It explores the complexities of advocating for land and cultural heritage, offering a glimpse into the history and significance of the tribal rights movement in Jharkhand.
Anjitha V P is a passionate filmmaker and writer from Kerala with an academic and professional background in cinema. She holds a BA from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, and an MA from the University of Hyderabad. Anjitha has worked as a Process Associate at Genpact, Hyderabad, but her true calling lies in filmmaking. She has served as an Assistant Director in films like Pumpkin (short film directed by Meccartin) and Divorce (KSFDC-funded feature film directed by Mini IG). She also contributed as an Assistant Scriptwriter for the Malayalam film Nizhalazham (2022) directed by Rahul Raj. As a filmmaker, Anjitha wrote and directed the Malayalam short film Vyadhi, which received critical acclaim and multiple awards, including Best Short Film at KIFF – Kalinga 2023, Special Jury Mention at MediaOne Academy Film Festival 2023, and Best Screenplay at Kayal Sammelanam Short Film Festival 2023. Her journey in cinema reflects a deep commitment to storytelling and an evolving creative vision.
Rocky Mol Selvaraj is a South Indian visual artist originally from Pudukkottai and based in Nottingham. Her practice encompasses painting and photography, exploring her Dalit identity and personal experiences through various notions of skin. After earning an MA in Fine Arts from the University of Lincoln, she continues to examine skin and identity while dreaming beyond, incorporating surrealistic metaphors. For her, apples represent everything—her deepest fears, desires, hopes, the idea of love, family, home, beauty, equality—everything real and imaginary. Her works have been exhibited in various galleries across the East Midlands and are currently part of the exhibition Kolam at Primary, Nottingham. To read more about the artist’s practice, visit: Apples and People – Skin
Kalpana Ambedkar is a passionate filmmaker and multimedia professional with over five years of experience in filmmaking, video production, and programme organizing. With a strong commitment to social justice, her work focuses on thought-provoking narratives addressing caste, gender, and Dalit issues in Indian society. She holds a Master’s in business management (Finance) and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from NMCC, Marthandam. Beyond filmmaking, she pursues creative writing, curating talent, and event planning. Kalpana has directed the music video Thodaatha, produced by Bigson Records and released by Sony Music South. She is also an Assistant Director on Thandakaaranyam, a socio-political film by Athiyan Aathirai under Neelam Productions. As an Executive Producer, she collaborates with Arivu & The Ambassa, a Chennai-based multi-genre music band that amplifies voices for social justice. Previously, she played a key role in organizing Margazhiyil Makkalisai, a ten-day music festival by Neelam Cultural Centre and filmmaker Pa. Ranjith. With a deep passion for storytelling that challenges social norms, Kalpana continues to push boundaries in Indian cinema, using art as a tool for awareness and change.
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD scholar at the School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on caste, Dalit identity, Rajasthani folklore, oral history, and cinema, with a particular emphasis on Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from a Dalit standpoint. His writings include the article “Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’” (2022) in the PostScript section and the book review “Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change” (2024), both published in Economic and Political Weekly. He also contributes regularly to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
The short film Vyadhi(7 mins, Malayalam) by Anjitha V. P. follows two ladies who meet at a common service centre and become friends. However, as their conversation begins, everything starts to change.
The short film Break The Silence (40 mins, Tamil) is directed by Kalpana Ambedkar. In the deafening roar of textile machines, where sweat and suffering are woven into every thread, silence is the price of survival. Behind locked gates, countless young women endure unspeakable abuse—trapped, unheard, and forgotten. Break The Silence exposes the brutal realities of gender-based violence within these factories, where power preys on the helpless and fear keeps lips sealed. But one woman refuses to be another nameless victim. After enduring relentless torment, she runs—fleeing through the shadows, leaving behind friends who weren’t as lucky. With nothing but fear in her chest and the fire of survival in her heart, she fights her way home. Villagers become her shield, guiding her to safety. But the scars of her past refuse to fade. This time, she’s not running. She’s returning—not alone but armed with justice. With the help of a social worker, she storms the very place that once broke her. Twenty-five girls. Twenty-five stolen lives. Today, they walk free. This is not just a story of escape. It’s a story of uprising, of defiance—of breaking the silence, forever.
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD scholar at the School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on caste, Dalit identity, Rajasthani folklore, oral history, and cinema, with a particular emphasis on Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from a Dalit standpoint. His writings include the article “Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’” (2022) in the PostScript section and the book review “Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change” (2024), both published in Economic and Political Weekly. He also contributes regularly to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
Rupal Bansal is a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Night Studies, Partition Studies, and Violence, Trauma, and Memory Studies. Focusing on the phenomenological experiences of the night, her dissertation examines how acts of violence, migration, and remembering are structured within the ‘chronotope’ of the night in narratives about the Partition of India in 1947.
Purnachandra Naik is a researcher specializing in Dalit literature. He completed his PhD at NTU and is the author of the forthcoming Routledge book Reading the Rejected: Dirt in Dalit Literature. His research explores caste, marginality, and literary expressions of resistance. Naik has contributed extensively to journals and edited volumes, examining various aspects of Dalit narratives across literature and cinema. His works published in Economic and Political Weekly include Baby Kamble to Bama: Dalit Women Write Differently, “Baluta” and “Joothan” amid Humiliation, Sparks of Life amid the Dead, Roars of Dalit Audacity, and A New Note to the Polyphony. His book chapter Screening Caste: ‘Untouchable’ Body, Labour, and Remuneration in Lagaan appears in The Routledge Companion to Caste and Cinema in India (2022). He has also published The Luminous Voice of an Enslaved Character in Outlook (2024), Contemporary Shades of Kerala and Many Idioms of Caste and Untouchability in The Book Review. Additionally, his book chapter Studying Caste Up: Yashica Dutt’s Coming Out as Dalit is part of Subalternities in India and Latin America (2021). His scholarship critically engages with caste, humiliation, and assertion in Dalit narratives, offering nuanced insights into their literary and cinematic representations.
Soumik Hazra is currently pursuing his PhD, titled “In Search of the Decentred Other: Post-Millennium Hindi Crime Cinema and Its Expanded Terrains”, at the Cinema Studies Department, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He identifies as a cinephile with an avid interest in new media studies, film philosophy, genre studies, popular culture, and documentary cinema. His work has been published in the journal Widescreen.
Ajay Pateer is a filmmaker and a PhD candidate in Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. As a researcher, his current focus lies in cyberactivism and the anti-caste movement. As a filmmaker, he is working in the documentary form.
Red Brick Battleground, a documentary film by Ajay Pateer and Soumik Hazra (125 mins, Hindi) documents the 2024 JNU Students’ Union election, student movements post-2016, and state-backed violence. Blending interviews, electoral coverage, and found footage, it captures JNU’s resilience and broader political realities.
Mahishaa is an Ambedkarite filmmaker based in Bangalore, whose work primarily focuses on urban Bengaluru. His films explore the intersections of caste, gender, and masculinity. He is the founder of Neelavarana, an Ambedkarite artist collective that produces short films, music videos, and documentaries centered on Bahujan stories, created by people from the DBA community. His works have been showcased internationally, including in Melbourne, Australia, Berlin, Germany, and other locations.
Dr Nicole Thiara is Co-lead of Nottingham Trent University’s Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group and Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network Series ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’ and its Follow-on Grant ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’. She teaches postcolonial and contemporary literature at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her area of research is Dalit and South Asian literature, and her current research project is the representation of modernity in Dalit literature.
Chandrashekara K. is a versatile talent in Kannada theatre and cinema—an international actor, director, filmmaker, and pedagogue specializing in movement and devising. He has participated in several international theatre experiments, traveling to countries like Japan, Germany, Lebanon, South Africa, and Switzerland. Chandrashekara has played lead roles in Kannada films such as Gavisiddha and Mahasampark and has directed innovative plays like Keri Haadu and Panchamapada. He holds a postgraduate degree from the Department of Performing Arts at Bangalore University and is a founding member of Jangama Collective. Committed to building theatre movements with marginalized communities and sexual minorities, he is also preparing a collection of his stories for publication. His current performance in the play Bob Marley from Kodihalli has further enhanced the production’s impact.
Ampee Panyang is a filmmaker and screenwriter from Arunachal Pradesh, currently based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She is a graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, specializing in Direction and Screenplay Writing. In addition to her filmmaking career, she is a film professor associated with several renowned film institutes in Mumbai.
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD scholar at the School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on caste, Dalit identity, Rajasthani folklore, oral history, and cinema, with a particular emphasis on Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from a Dalit standpoint. His writings include the article “Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’” (2022) in the PostScript section and the book review “Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change” (2024), both published in Economic and Political Weekly. He also contributes regularly to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
Babasaheb In Bengaluru (5 min, Kannada) by Mahishaa is a short film that showcases Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s statues in Bengaluru, which stand as powerful symbols of resistance and empowerment for marginalized communities. Unlike government-funded monuments, these statues exist through the people’s efforts, embodying his philosophy to “Educate, Agitate, Organise.” Each one tells a story of struggle, reminding millions to carry forward his vision of equality and justice.
Keri Haadu/Song Of Ghetto (33 min, Kannada)is a documentary film by Chandrashekara K. which documents the aftermath of a Dalit protest in Dindguru, Karnataka, sparked by caste discrimination. While their movement succeeded, the community now faces harsh consequences. The film captures their daily struggle, resilience, and survival as an act of resistance.
NON-AC (20:22 mins, Nepali and Hindi), directed by Ampee Panyang, is a short film that follows Maya and Jorge, immigrants from Nepal, as they struggle to make ends meet and survive in Pune, India. Often treated as outsiders, they grapple with the challenges of migration while finding solace in each other’s company. As their friendship deepens, it begins to take on a more profound meaning, rooted in the shared longing for a sense of ‘home.’ The film explores themes of migration, racism, xenophobia, and economic class differences that run deep in Indian society.
Alongside our current exhibition, Karuppu, join artist Osheen Siva for this free, in-person workshop rooted in Dalit history, focusing on the legacy of the Dalit Panthers.
This event utilises speculative fiction as a tool to explore a future in which multi-dimensional narratives are built, while being anchored through an anti-caste, anti-racist and intersectional feminist lens.
Things to note:
About the workshop:
During the workshop, we’ll look into the origins, history, legacy of the Dalit Panthers movement. Exploring how the call for action was manifested physically through art and design, through the means of newsletters, posters, typography, colours, and so on. In parallel, we also focus on the history of protest artworks throughout history such as the poster designs from the 70s punk movement, art practices of creatives like Keith Haring, Shiva Nallaperumal, Rajni Perera, Panther’s Paw Publications, and Octavia Butler amongst others.
With the knowledge of Dalit history and the universe of futurisms we’ll combine the two using speculative fiction to create our own empowering narratives. Using the Dalit Panther newsletter as the template, we speculate what the year 3000 would look like for the Dalit community.
This will be envisioned through:
Osheen Siva is a multidisciplinary artist from Thiruvannamalai, currently based in Goa. Through the lens of surrealism, speculative fiction and science fiction and rooted in their Dalit and Tamil heritage, Osheen imagines new worlds of decolonised dreamscapes, futuristic oases with mutants and monsters and narratives of queer and feminine power.
Alongside our current exhibition, Karuppu, join us for a free online in-conversation event between our exhibiting artist Osheen Siva with Jelena Sofronijevic, producer of EMPIRE LINES podcast and Nicole Thiara, researcher of Dalit and Adivasi literature.
Together, they will explore topics related to Osheen’s practice; their inspiration from cultural aesthetics that explore speculative futures and racial identity, including Afrofuturism. Osheen’s work uses science fiction, mythology, and religious heritage amidst their love of comic books and the vibrant soul of South India. Their artworks imagine fantastical dreamscapes, whilst reclaiming and reinventing Indian folktales and myths to imagine a decolonised future.
This event will be live streamed on YouTube, with auto generated closed captions. During the live event there will be the opportunity to ask questions.
Osheen Siva is a multidisciplinary artist from Thiruvannamalai, currently based in Goa. Through the lens of surrealism, speculative fiction and science fiction and rooted in their Dalit and Tamil heritage, Osheen imagines new worlds of decolonised dreamscapes, futuristic oases with mutants and monsters and narratives of queer and feminine power.
Jelena Sofronijevic is a producer, curator, writer, and researcher, who makes content at the intersections of cultural history, politics, and the arts. Beyond their works in print they are the producer of EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through art, and historicity, a new series of audio walking tours, exploring how cities got to be the way they are, recorded on location in London (2022) and Tokyo (2023). Their full portfolio of work is available on their website, and social media.
Follow Jelena on Instagram – @empirelinespodcast, and on Twitter @jelsofron
Nicole Thiara is Co-Lead of Nottingham Trent University’s Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group and Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’ and its Follow-on Grant ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’. She teaches postcolonial and contemporary literature at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her area of research is Dalit, Adivasi and diasporic South Asian literature and her current research project focuses on the representation of modernity in Dalit literature.
This online roundtable is a pre-conference event on Dalit magazines with editors and subject experts from West Bengal and Maharashtra. It is being organised in association with the Network on Dalit and Adivasi Literature and Bonington Gallery as part of our Formations Series.
Conceptualised to draw the attention of researchers working in this field within and outside India, the roundtable will be moderated by Dr Nicole Thiara and Prof Judith Misrahi-Barak.
Funded by the Research Seed Grant Scheme, GITAM (Deemed to be University), the project on Dalit Literature in Marathi and Bangla Little Magazines intends to critically engage with the underrepresented area of Dalit Periodicals within the broad research field of Dalit Studies. It aims to trace and collect periodicals published in Bangla and Marathi (1950-2000) and look into their publication process, circulation and readership.
Besides, it aims to build a digital repository of Bangla and Marathi periodicals to facilitate easier access, a historiographic narrative on the evolution of Dalit literary periodicals in Marathi and Bangla and encourage translations of Dalit writings published in these periodicals.
As part of the outreach programme, a three-day conference is being organised in GITAM, Hyderabad, titled “Vernacular Periodicals and Dalit Writing: Production, Circulation and Reception” from 1st March to 3rd March 2023 in association with the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. This conference aims to bring together editors, subject experts, early career scholars and graduate students to initiate a conversation across Indian languages and to reflect upon the vernacular Dalit periodicals critically.
The discussion will primarily focus on:
1) the possibility and scope of research in the area of vernacular periodicals and Dalit writing,
2) the challenges in such research and
3) the significance of such research.
A retired central government employee, Dhurjati Naskar, is an essayist, poet, and novelist from South 24 Parganas of West Bengal. He has been involved in editing periodicals since the early 1970s. Some of the periodicals edited by him are: Bangla Maati (Soil of Bengal), Dakkhin Barasat Sahitya Patra (South Barasat Literary Magazine), Baridhati, Dakhina Path, Baruipur Sambad (Barupipur News), Bharatiya Pundra Samachar (Indian Pundra News) and Pundra-Poundra Badhav. These periodicals, predominantly literary, also published essays concerning the history, ethnonational and folk traditions of the Poundra community. He is a member of Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sangstha (Kolkata), West Bengal Dalit Sahitya Sabha and a founding member of Dr Bhusan Chandra Naskar Archive. He has been a recipient of the West Bengal Sahitya Akademy Award in the year 2019.
Prof. Sipra Mukherjee teaches English at West Bengal State University. Her areas of interest are religion, caste, folklore and orality. She has been a visiting fellow at the department of English University of Hyderabad, School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University. She has received many national and international research and travel grants. Some of them are – ICSSR research grant for a research project on ‘Interpreting Folklore: Understanding the relationship between folklore, religion and caste in East India’, 2013-2015; a Research Grant from the University Grant Commission, India, ‘Faiths in the Margins’, 2009; Luce Grant from Comparative Religion Programme, on Religion and Human Security: Negotiating the Power of Religious Non-State Actors, University of Washington, 2008. Besides her research on the intersection between caste and religion, she has been an avid translator. Her translated works include the Autobiography of Dalit writer Manoranjan Byapari, Interrogating My Chandal Life, 2018, and Under My Black Skin Flows a Red River: Translations of Dalit Writings for Bengal, 2021, which she co-edited along with Prof. Debi Chatterjee. She is also a member of Ebong Alap, a voluntary non-profit society which works with youth to encourage critical thought.
Dr Asit Biswas is an Associate Professor of English in West Bengal Education Service, currently posted at P.R. Thakur Government College, Thakurnagar, West Bengal. He completed his PhD research on the film adaptation of western texts in Bengali films from the University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal. He has published seventeen research papers, six Dalit short stories, two Dalit plays and some poems in Bengali. He is the co-editor of the book Shotoborsher Bangla Dalit Sahitya; Dalit Poems, Dalit Literary Horizon (translation of Manohar Mouli Biswas’s book, Dalit Sahityer Digboloy), Songs and Dialogues from Bengal in English Translation and Dalit Protest Unbridled: Two Dozen Plays of Raju Das. He also published the book Pardon Not: Marichjhampi Massacre, a translation of the novel Kshama Nei by Nakul Mallik. Recently his translation of Kalyani Thakur’s novella Andhar Bil O Kichhu Manush (Andhar Bil and Some People) has been published by Zubaan. At present, he is translating a Bangla epic.
Urmila Pawar is a widely known Indian (Marathi) writer. She has been active in the Dalit and feminist movements in India since her early life. She was a part of the Marathi Dalit feminist magazine Aamhi Maitarni which was published during the 90s. She has eleven publications to her credit including the popular Marathi short story collection translated into English as Mother Wit by Prof. Veena Deo (Hamline University, USA), published by Zuban. Her Autobiographical narrative Aydaan translated into English as The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs by Prof. Maya Pandit remains most popular even today (it has been translated into other Indian languages as well – Hindi, Kannada and Tamil). Many of her short stories have been prescribed in the syllabus framework of Indian universities as well as universities abroad (Colombia University, USA).
A bilingual poet, translator, editor, critic and columnist, Dr Chandrakant Patil writes in Marathi and Hindi and occasionally in English. He has several publications – collections of Marathi poems such as Nissandarbh, Ittambhoot, Bayaka ani Itar Kvita, and a collection of Hindi poems Apni Bhasha Ke Sameep to mention a few. Besides, he has also published six critical essay collections and twenty-five collections in Marathi and Hindi translations. He is popularly known for his active engagement in the Little Magazine Movement in Maharashtra during the 1960s and 1970s. He acted as one of the editors and publishers of the highly discussed little magazine Wacha. Besides, he was also one of the founder members of Wacha Prakashan that published the first collections of avant-garde poets of Marathi, such as Bhalchandra Nemade, Manohar Oak, Satish Kalasekar, Dilip Chitre etc. He has been a recipient of national and state-level awards for his various contributions – Sahitya Akademi Translation award (1991), Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Akademi (1994), Bhasha Vruddhi Sammaan, Govt. Of Maharashtra (2022).
Prof. Dilip Chavan is an academic scholar and a professor of English at SRTM University, Nanded, Maharashtra. His doctoral work, Language Politics under Colonialism: Caste, Class and Language Pedagogy in Western India, was published as a book by Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars in 2013. He writes in Marathi and has published nine books on contemporary social issues such as language, caste, class, imperialism, and women’s education. Some of his notable works are – Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar ani Jativyawastha Ant (1998); Shikshan: Jatvargiya Vastav ani Samatavadi Paryay (1999); Stree Shikshanacha Sangharsha (2007); Dr Ambedkar ani Bhartiya Shikshanatil Jatisanghrsha (2003); Samrajyavad: Bhasha ani Sanskriti (2010); Corona ani Stree-Purush Vishamatecha Prashna (2022). He also has a keen interest in translations from English to the Marathi language (he is working on the Marathi translation of Braj Ranjan Mani’s book Debrahminising History). Besides, he has been a part of the widely read fortnightly ‘Pariwartanacha Watsaru’ as its executive editor. He has been associated with academic institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore.
A graduate from the University of Hyderabad, Dr Sayantan Mondal is currently an Asst. Professor in the department of English at GITAM, Hyderabad (Deemed to be University). His areas of interest are Reading-Print readership, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Dalit Studies and Translation. Sayantan has been an Erasmus Mundus Fellow at the University of Oxford during 2015-16. He has received the University of Heidelberg Travel Grant 2015 and the University Grants Commission Travel grant 2016. Presently, he is working on a research project titled “Mapping Vernacular Network of Ideas and Recovering the Ephemeral: Dalit Literature in Marathi and Bangla Little Magazines”, along with Dr Jondhale Rahul Hiraman. This project aims to trace Bangla and Marathi Periodicals and the exchange of ideas on the caste question. Some of his published works are – Of Caste-Class and Dalit Writing, 2015; An Introduction to the World of Monoranjan Byapari, 2015; Language and its People: A Comparative insight into the Kurdish and Rohingya Genocide, 2019; Prantik theke Dalit: Nandonikatar Rajniti o Dalit Chetona (From Marginalised to Dalit: Politics of Aesthetics and Dalit Consciousness), 2022; Migration and Cultural Identity: An Introduction, 2022.
Having received a doctorate in English (Cultural Studies) from The English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U), Hyderabad, Dr Jondhale Rahul Hiraman is an assistant professor of English at GITAM (Deemed to be University), Hyderabad campus. His doctoral research, Religious Conversion and Dalit Experience: A Study of the Meanings of Conversion among the Neo-Buddhists, emphasises the phenomenon of Dalit conversion to Buddhism and studies the conversion movement in Nanded district (Marathwada region, Maharashtra) through collecting and analysing historical records – pamphlets, posters, record books etc. He is a recipient of a prestigious Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, doctoral fellowship for his doctoral research. He has been publishing in the area of Dalit Studies/literature on issues such as caste, colonial intervention into the caste question, Dalit identity and culture etc. Currently, he is involved in a research project, “Mapping Vernacular Network of Ideas and Recovering the Ephemeral: Dalit Literature in Marathi and Bangla Little Magazines”, along with Dr Sayantan Mondal.