The fifth episode of Made in Heaven 2, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, has been a topic of conversation since its release last week. This episode addresses the issue of casteism that persists even in modern times. Radhika Apte portrays Pallavi Menke, a Dalit author, who confidently embraces her identity and advocates for her community. On Monday, Yashica Dutt, a journalist and author renowned for her book ‘Coming Out as Dalit,’ which offers insights into the Dalit experience in India, took to Instagram. She wrote about how the episode gave her an intense emotional reaction and criticised the creators of Made in Heaven for depicting a version of her life on screen without getting permission or giving credit.
Yashica posted a video excerpt of the sequence from the show and commented on the episode featuring an inter-caste wedding. Although she hailed the creators for showing a Dalit-Buddhist wedding and labeled the episode as a ‘cinematic triumph of significant measure,’ she raised concerns about the fact that the creators’ failed to ‘properly credit’ her role in shaping the ‘fundamental concepts’ depicted in the episode.
She wrote in the caption, “It’s been an overwhelming few days. Seeing my likeness on screen without warning or permission was a roller-coaster starting from thrill and excitement to sadness and loss. I continue to support @neeraj.ghaywan’s excellent work, whether now with Made in Heaven or Geeli Pucchi before. But this needs to be addressed.”
In a long note, Yashica wrote, “Before I came out as Dalit in 2016, there was no vocabulary to identify the process of revealing your Dalitness after hiding it for years and owning it with pride either. Today, in 2023, there is both. Dalit directors like Neeraj Ghaywan have revolutionised our cinematic language by showcasing unapologetic Dalits in Bollywood, a tradition that has an even longer history in Southern cinema.”
She further wrote, “The scene where the Dalit author, who is from Columbia, has written a book about ‘coming out’ and talks about her grandmother ‘manually cleaning toilets’, asserts her selfhood with her life partner-to-be, gave me chills. It was surreal to see a version of my life on screen that was not, but yet was still me. But soon the heartbreak set in. They were my words, but my name was nowhere… The ideas I cultivated, that are my life’s work, that I continue to receive immense hate for just speaking, were taken without permission or credit.”
Read the full note here:
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