Fandry: Chasing elusive birds!

Marathi film Fandry which has won many awards, is a typical film that deals with the caste question and the struggle for survival of dalits in an Indian village. This is perhaps one of those very few films that have brought out the raw reality of the subaltern powerfully. The subaltern narrative that is in focus in this film is the brutality of caste system which in this modern world plays out more subtly than the historic untouchability. Here is a family, the day-to-day struggles of which are a spectacle of entertainment for the so called upper caste people in the village. The entire narrative is depicted through the eyes of the teenage son in the family Jabya. The irony is that this boy is chasing two ‘birds’ both of which are elusive to him – one a long-tailed sparrow and the other a fair girl from the upper caste.  

Director: Nagraj Manjule

Film Clip

The caste dynamics at play in this film are similar to the dynamics playing in any village today. Caste today is not just about untouchability; for untouchability in its true sense is no more a major concern, when you can easily stay away with people whom you don’t like. It is about attitudes and perceptions. In the film, the family of Kachrya, the father of Jabya the ‘lover boy’, lives as usual on the fringe of the village; but the family is sought after to tidy the dirt of the village, i.e. to catch the pigs which are another symbol of defilement. Perhaps, the family can be banished only when all the dirt (pigs) are done away from the village. 

The final scene in the film where the young Jabya gives vent to his suppressed anger seems just an aberration in a scenario where dalits are considered a mass to be merely used and suppressed, and the discrimination and humiliation meted out to them considered something normal. It is a landmark film that brings to forth the dalit angst. 

-Melwyn Pinto SJ