Pa. Ranjith: For me, everything is political

The filmmaker is known for his strong voice against caste based oppression, a recurrent theme in his artworks. Even in ‘Thangalaan’ there’s an element of caste, while it touches upon Buddhism as well.

Mumbai: Filmmaker Pa. Ranjith, whose ‘Thangalaan’ has been getting a good response across languages, has said that he views art through a political lens.

The filmmaker is known for his strong voice against caste based oppression, a recurrent theme in his artworks. Even in ‘Thangalaan’ there’s an element of caste, while it touches upon Buddhism as well.

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The director spoke with IANS, and shared that the social structure of India which is deeply entrenched in politics gives no choice to the artistes except to be political.

He told IANS, “For me, everything is political. In India, the whole system is based on politics. We need to understand that we follow indifference given the caste system, and the class system. We are a country which follows customs and rituals under a hierarchy”.

He also runs an organisation, Neelam Cultural Centre, which has collaborated with the music label Madras Records to form a 19-piece band called The Casteless Collective that includes 4 rappers, 7 instrumentalists and 8 gaana musicians, a popular folk music style in Tamil Nadu.

The name of the band was inspired by a phrase, “Jaathi bedha matra Tamilargal”, used by Tamil anti-caste activist and writer C Iyothee Thassa Panditha.

He further mentioned that we as Indians are very much separated about our thoughts, religious things and caste. In that sense, every single entity is washed by the sands of time.

“Each tree in a village has a story behind itself, it has seen oppression, it has seen the rise of people. These are the things that interest me as an artiste. Through my art, I want to raise awareness. I don’t want to be a preacher, but I want the audience to look at my work and then use their brain to arrive at a conclusion or get inspired to set things right in society”, he added.

The Hindi version of ‘Thangalaan’, produced by Studio Green is currently playing in theatres.