I have been following Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi films, arts, culture and history since the last eight years. My journey started when I curated The Die is Caste for the Kochi Muziris Biennale in January 2017, with a package of films on Dalit issues, along with music and dance performances by Bahujan, “lower” castes and indigenous people. The films included Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat (Marathi), John Abraham’s Agraharathil Kazhuthai (Donkey in a Brahmin Village, Tamil), BV Karanth’s Chomana Dudi (Kannada) and Bikas Mishra’s Chauranga (Khortha). The performances were by protest singer Bant Singh and Baljit Kaur (Punjab), Manimaranayya, Magizhiniamma, Samaran and Iniyan (Parai artists, Tamil Nadu), and Karinthalakoottam, an indigenous folk troupe (Thrissur, Kerala). The programme was so warmly received, I knew I had touched a chord.

In the last three years, I’ve also had the opportunity to expand my interests. In September I attended the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)—I’ve been Senior Programme Advisor, South Asia to TIFF, and Curator/Consultant to TIFF Cinematheque over the last 13 years. Apart from the festival, I travelled in Toronto and extensively in the US, each year, including New York, Boston or Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco, partly to better understand the arts, culture and history of Black, Native American, Indigenous and First Nations people. I met scholars, activists, filmmakers and curators working in these fields, including on caste-related issues. This year, I met, among others, Dr Suraj Yengde, WEB Du Bois Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. These conversations have expanded my understanding of the history and representation of marginalised people.