Phule’s mission is incomplete, says director Ananth Mahadevan on his biopic on social reformer Jyotiba Phule-OxBig News Network

“It’s an urgent film to make,” says Ananth Mahadevan amid an intense conversation on his upcoming biopic of the social reformer Jyotiba Phule. As an actor, Ananth often plays a mild-mannered man, but as a filmmaker, his choice of subjects is anything but soft. From Gour Hari Dastan to Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, he has raised many pressing issues through biopics of people who made a difference to society but are often reduced to footnotes in history. Prolific and pointed, his last film, The Storyteller, was a witty take on plagiarism.

Phule is not just a biopic. It reflects the quiet social revolution that Jyotiba and Savitribai started in 1850 to overcome caste and gender discrimination and provide dignity to widows. “The progressive mission that started 175 years ago has still not been completed. They knew it would not be completed in their lifetime and wanted someone to pick up the baton and carry on.”

Ananth says that Jyotiba, who inspired Bhimrao Ambedkar and was the first to address the oppressed outcastes as Dalits, has not been celebrated enough in popular culture. “He propagated the concept of Ahimsa before Gandhi talked about it. It is strange that apart from Acharya Atre’s black & white Marathi film made in 1954 and Shyam babu’s (Benegal) 23-minute episode on Phule in Bharat Ek Khoj series, there is not much credible work on the social reformer.” Ambedkar was present at the launch and attended the premiere of Atre’s film.

“We have forgotten the bigness of his achievements and the impact of his contribution on society. It pushed me to mount a 70mm screen sketch in Hindi that not only talks about his pan-Indian influence but also puts him in context with global leaders like Martin Luther King and draws parallels between his mission and the Abolitionist and anti-Apartheid movements. To me, he was a visionary,” says Ananth.

Some Brahmin groups have expressed reservations about the depiction of the community, and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has asked to dilute the references to caste. Ananth feels those who have objected “jumped the gun” after watching the trailer. “Many Brahmins stood by Phule and were part of the Satyashodak Samaj. There were many Brahmin teachers in his schools.” Interestingly, some Ambedkarites have shown displeasure over Ananth putting forth his Brahmin identity to defend himself.

“See, the bigger picture is not all Brahmins threw cow dung at Phule. He faced resistance from marginalised sections as well because years of caste discrimination and poverty had made them wary of change, like sending girls to school. What I wanted to express was that we need to be self-critical. If your child is doing something wrong, will you spoil him because he is your own, or correct him by reprimanding him? Let’s open up our conscience.”

On the CBFC episode, Ananth says that while the body agreed that caste and gender discrimination were facts, and did not question his research, they wanted him to remove the mention of specific caste groups and tweak statements like ‘3000 years of slavery’ to a more generic expression like years of slavery. “I hold that what was said in the film was not anti-national or detrimental to society in any way, but we didn’t argue beyond a point.”

There is a section that questions Phule’s defence of colonial rule. Ananth sees Phule as an able strategist who, apart from being a great reformer, was a trader as well. “He could delineate the positive and negative aspects of the British rule. Having studied in an English-medium school, he saw value in English education and wanted to utilise it to uplift the marginalised sections. At the same time, he could see through the British agenda of divide and rule and the argument of the civilising mission to convert sections experiencing social discrimination to Christianity. That’s why he appealed to the so-called high priests of society to put their house in order before taking on the foreign power.”

A scene from Phule directed by Ananth Mahadevan.
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Responding to a Maharashtra minister’s statement that the period of discrimination has passed, Ananth asks, if it is so, why does the government still need to have a ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ slogan? “Why do we still have women empowerment programmes? Of course, because of the works of social reformers like Jyotiba and Savitribai, women are no longer confined to the kitchen, and successive governments have tried to bridge the gaps in society. But it is a fact that caste and gender discrimination continue to exist. We cannot close our eyes to the past and have an ostrich approach. We need to learn from the past.” Having said that, he informs that the decks have been cleared, and all the parties have come behind Phule.

In Hindi cinema, biopics are in trend, but at times, creative licence kills credibility, and at others, the storytelling gets reduced to a dull documentation of life. Anant says he does not take dramatic licence for granted. “These lives have so much drama that you don’t need to take creative liberties. Heroism doesn’t necessarily come with slow-motion shots. Phule’s life is so charged that it is bound to have a hard-hitting impact. Sindhutai’s life was so dramatic that if I had shown it as it is, people would have called it an exaggeration. My job is to report their contribution as honestly as I can.”

It was during the shooting of Scam 1992, where Ananth shared screen space with Pratik Gandhi, that he first realised the potential of the young actor. “I usually don’t write a character with an actor in mind, but in this case, the vibes were so strong that Pratik emerged out of the pages. He is so effortless that acting doesn’t look like performing.”

Ananth Mahadevan
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Having worked with some of the biggest names in the film industry, Ananth says that after Sanjeev Kumar, Pratik is the actor the industry needs to look up to. “He morphs beautifully to become the part. He not only listens but also contributes to the process. Acting demands social awareness and a high level of IQ. In our society, people often feel it is a job for youngsters who are not good at anything else. But to me, acting is the second toughest job, after a scientist.”

As for his space in the film industry, Ananth says he is still the odd man out. “The flag bearers of serious cinema don’t want to acknowledge my presence and turn a blind eye to me. However, I will continue to tackle seemingly impossible subjects.”