Ranjith has also doubled up as an activist (off-screen) where he has raised his voice on vexatious issues such as NEET and criticised how the plight of Dalits in society has been consistently ignored, by civil society and in politics. Madras that superbly focussed on the intricacies of grass-root party politics in North Chennai, Ranjith’s life has changed dramatically in the last few years. Was he not an assertive, brave person? There are many examples like that,” he added. ‘Melavalavu’ Murugesan bravely contested in the elections after an election boycott. The former can be empowering and aspirational. I only had the stereotypical ‘victim’ Dalit in the films. “I wanted to create an alternative image of assertive Dalits, which did not exist in Tamil cinema. That’s how I saw him while growing up,” he said.
My own grandfather lived his life as Kaala.
Ambedkar as an example? He showed that, despite coming from an oppressed community, he could write the Constitution of the country. He should be seen an example, right? Why should I not see Babasaheb Dr. Chatting in his Egmore office in the midst of working on his next film about boxing in North Chennai, Ranjith says that ‘assertive Dalit characters’ are a plenty in real life too, but they have been deliberately sidelined in cinema. Many critics feel that the success of Ranjith’s films has resulted in a situation where ‘assertive’ Dalit characters in movies such as Vetrimaaran’s smash hitĪsuran, featuring Dhanush, are here to stay. Ranjith has faced much criticism that he is trying to create a certain narrative of ‘assertive, heroic Dalit’ characters simply to suit a commercial film narrative rather than reflect the actually reality. The major shift in thinking has been the fact that the Dalits -who were represented as passive victims for long in cinema - have become assertive heroes.
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