21 June,2026 09:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Arpika Bhosale
The movies seems to turn from Peddi Phehelwan’s caste struggle to only good versus evil. Pic/Instagram@Peddi
Peddi has all the hallmarks of a feel-good sports film. What doesn't feel good, however, is the Dalit-hook that critics have pointed out in the movie.
The plot is anchored on the tale of a Dalit athlete who aspires to represent his country on the global stage, and bring recognition to his marginalised people. But critics have pointed out that while it draws in viewers with the promise of addressing one of the biggest controversies in sports - the ill treatment of Dalit sportspeople - the plot conveniently converts the struggle into a class war without caste context.
Casteism in Indian sports is no matter of fiction. Nor do we have to go very far back in history to point out an instance. In 2021, when the women's hockey team lost their chance to win at the 2020 Summer Olympics (which were held in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic), team member Vandana Katariya and her family were at the receiving end of casteist slurs and even death threats. The accusation? India lost because Katariya, a Dalit, was on the team.
Movies like Peddi have always existed. "Dalit issues are shiny," says Omeya, a filmmaker from Satara who now resides in Vashi. "They [filmmakers, audience] love to see us from the point of view of how they save us. These movies start from caste, but turn into a good-versus-evil class war," he adds.
Omeya's 2021 movie, Kadubai, follows its eponymous heroine in Aurangabad. Kadubai was a displaced single mother who sang Ambedkrite folksongs with her ektara to earn a living. It is free to watch on YouTube. Omey is also set to release another movie, Gungondhal, which is about The story revolves around Sidharth, a Ph.D. student researching intercaste marriage, who recently broke up with Yashika, a Tamil girl, due to the rigid caste hierarchy.
"Babasaheb [social reformer BR Ambedkar] was glad that there was Dalit representation in movies, but had said that he was disappointed at the lack of nuance they showed," says Omeya on how the community's icon had viewed Dalit representation in Bollywood. "Movies by V Shantaram and even Raj Kapoor have included caste, but again, the feeling was: âAt least we have some representation, that's better than none'. The expectation of nuance was withheld for the future generations that could take the anti-caste movement forward in cinema," he adds.
But the issue of savarna actors portraying the Dalit experience is something Omeya says he cannot fathom. "Shantaram too had directed savarna actors [playing Dalit roles] and Babasaheb had pointed out the same issue," he says. In more recent times, Omeya takes objection to the same thing happening in Marathi film, Dhangar. "The movie had no actors from the Dhangar community; there is no lived experience to inform the portrayal. How can the film be counted as something that actually helps the community when you are not even hiring them to portray their own stories?" he asks.
Appealing to Dalit sentiments to gain traction of a movie?; does real harm, says Vamsi, a Bengaluru-based theatre artiste who addresses caste oppression through his work. "The Telugu film industry or Tollywood has historically run on finance and distribution networks controlled by a very small section of feudal caste communities, such as the Kammas and the Reddys. They control production houses, distribution networks, screens, movie halls, and now even OTTs," he says.
Vamsi, who hails from Andhra Pradesh himself, is no stranger to the manipulations, "Mass cinema is always run on the underdog engine - the angry young man of Hindi cinema, the rebel hero in Tamil cinema, the rowdy hero in Telugu cinema, they are all variations of a poor, wronged man taking on the corrupt system. An emotionally potent version of this is the Dalit, Bahujan, or working class Muslim or Christian person - the âother' - who is fighting unemployment, humiliation, or any sort of structural injustice," he adds.
"This is a trope that is played again and again. And the problem is that this extracts the emotional charge of someone who lives in the slum and fights the man, but doesn't help the people actually living that life. This is yet another part of the system," says Vamsi.
