Warkaris: The ones who rejected caste

A boat is sailing near the banks of the Chandrabhaga river in Pandharpur It is almost twilight and the Warkaris who are devotees of Lord Vitthal have just begun reciting kirtan or life stories of saints set to musicHeredity caste and Varna all irrelevant Dear Arjuna all becomes me at the end the 13th century Warkari saintpoet Dnyaneshwar Vitthalpant Kulkarni had said Chokhamela the 14th century Warkari saintpoet later said How long do I be afraid of you Hari Lord Vitthal I have held the doors of your temple for long and I have been kept from seeing youA ritual performed during the annual Melwari gathering in Mangarul Dastagir village in Amravati districtThe start of the featurelength documentary Ajaat is telling It makes the viewer wonder what events unfolded within the traditional Warkari communityDuring the 1930s Ganapati aka Hari Maharaj Bhabhutkar 18851944 from Mangarul Dastagir in the Amravati district of Maharashtra asked his followers to abandon their caste After Indias Independence these followers started identifying themselves as casteless or ajaat when they were asked to fill the caste column in government documents This 124minute documentary is based on the experiences of these followers as it tries to explore Ganapatis vision and how his work has affected the Ajaat communityAjaat was first filmed in 2015 in the village before being screened across MaharashtraDirected by Arvind Joshi the film was shot in Amravati in 2015 Joshi 30 comes from Buldana close to Mangrul and yet he was ignorant of this revolution As a society we lack the means to keep records of important events Thats why its been difficult to interpret our past our heroes and their works The documentary therefore is an attempt to remind the community of Ganapatis effort Joshi saysIt was after acquiring a degree in engineering from Pune that he came across literature on Ganapati and his legacy I was fascinated I planned a trip to Amravati and spoke to the villagers I knew I had to document their past present and explore what the future holds for them he addsArvind Joshi directorSince this was his first big project after a short film he had made Joshi faced challenges in breaking the ice with the Warkaris I am an introvert and suddenly handling the crew the actors and the community was tough Our team of six returned to the village and completed filming in a few weeks that same yearInterestingly Joshi spent some time looking at how the new generation of the Warkaris has chosen to acknowledge their caste once again It is unfortunate that the community is now witnessing a reverse trend Although Ganapati began a revolution that had tremendous potential his followers have been unable to sustain the fervourFollowed by a series of interviews of journalists and experts and the Warkaris themselves the film concludes with Ganapatis couplet petitioning the end of discrimination It is a tragedy I hope the audience realises their problem and does something about itPremiered on April 14 in 2016 Dr Babasaheb Ambedkars birth anniversary Ajaat has been screened across Pune Mumbai Hyderabad Nashik Aurangabad and in New Zealand Last week it was made available for public viewing on YouTube Ive always wanted to take the film and the movement to a wider audience Joshi says clarifying that the timing has little to do with maximising audience attention during the lockdownCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news