One of the most important films of this decade - Fandry successfully addresses the issues of caste based discrimination in a very simple yet gripping way. The film is set in Akolner, a village in Maharashtra. It follows the story of a young boy (Jambhuvant Kachru Mane) who belongs to a poor family who falls in love with a girl from an upper caste family (Shalini).
Jambhuvant’s (Jabya) family belongs to the Kaikadi (meaning wild pig) community, which in Hinduism is one of the lowest castes. His family consists of two sisters, his parents and himself. They make their living by doing odd jobs around the village like helping with the construction of a building or catching the nuisance causing pigs in the village because none of the higher castes would touch them (because they're said to be impure). Living in a kaccha house on the outskirts of the village, they barely get by.
The name of the film, Fandry, translates to “pig” in the local Kaikadi language.
Jabya falls in love with a girl from his class, Shalini. Shalini (Shalu) is completely oblivious to his feelings. The thought of her, an upper caste girl, falling in love with the likes of Jabya, an untouchable boy, would not have even crossed her mind.
Jabya, who is still learning the complexities of this casteist social structure, naively hopes that she reciprocates his feelings. His much older friend, Chankya (played by Nagraj Manjule), a bicycle mechanic, tells him of a legend which says that if you sprinkle the ashes of the Black Sparrow on anyone, that person will fall in love with you. Jabya and his friend from school - Pirya are on the lookout for this elusive black sparrow since the beginning of the film, hoping that some mysticism might just help Jabya’s love story blossom.
This plan however doesn’t come to fruition other than in Jabya’s dreams.
The school serves as the space where Jabya first meets and is infatuated by Shalu. It is also this act of learning in the school among other children, as equals, sitting on the same desks as Brahmins, Vaishyas and Kshatriyas and being imparted the same education, that inspires Jabya to not follow in the footsteps of his father, Kachru (meaning rubbish, a nickname given by the higher castes) and continue the traditional jobs that the people of his caste are coerced into doing, like capturing pigs.
There's a stark contrast between Jabya and his father Kachru which the film highlights as well.
Jabya, still in his youth, believes that he can change the way people view him for himself and not only for his caste. Whereas Kachru, having gone through his life as an unlettered landless labourer in a village where caste determines all social interactions and hierarchies - knows that the only way to live a peaceful life in the village is by adhering to all these social norms.
The aspect of untouchability is also shown in the film. When Jabya’s sister asks a lady for water, the lady puts the glass on the ground from where his sister is supposed to take it.
There’s also a scene where a pig runs through the school grounds while accidentally touching one of Shalu’s friends. Shalu tells everyone else to not touch her as a pig has touched her (a pig is considered dirty and impure). She then takes her friend back to her house and her mother sprinkles some gau mutra (cow urine is considered to have a cleansing effect in Hinduism).
This goes on to show just how orthodox the society in villages still is in todays day and age.
One scene in particular stood out to me - when Jabya's family is tasked with finding and capturing a pig, he decides to hide so that none of his classmates see him running behind the pig trying to catch it. Even though everyone in his school knows his caste - he is unwilling to partake in doing this demeaning task. He remains hidden until his father finds him and beats him - calling him a coward. This is when we see Jabya resign and do the task that he had been hiding from. He captures the pig and in doing so - its like he gives up fighting.
The last scene of the film still sends chills down my spine. A few upper caste boys keep teasing Jabya and his family by calling them “Fandry”(pig). This is where Jabya reaches his breaking point as he cannot and will not stand by while his family is continually discriminated against and belittled - reduced only and only to their caste identity. Jabya, having grown tired of the constant teasing and discrimination, hurls a stone at one of the boys heads.
The stone is seen as coming towards the audience and the film comes to an end This ending forces the audience to introspect - as they aren’t only the victims of this caste hierarchy but also the same people who propagate it.
The people of the village treat Jabya’s family as sub-humans. They give them menial tasks to do for very little pay, forcing them to stay in abject poverty. The casteist and elitist society in the village does little to help the plight of the Dalits who live separately, segregated from everyone else. The upper caste villagers continually exploit and remind Jabya and his family where their place is in this social hierarchy.
There's also a feeling of a silent revolution that one can feel emanating through Jabya's character. He blatantly refuses the upper castes when he's told to catch a pig; he dares to fall in love with an upper caste girl - and in his naïveté he forgets about his "place" in society. He wants to pursue an education even when his parents tell him not to. I guess, he somehow knows that the only way to leave this tyrannical system - is education. He signifies the new generation of Dalits - a generation that will not be stuck to their traditional job roles that are both demeaning and oppressive. This generation vehemently refuses to be subservient to anyone. This is a generation which has read Ambedkar and Phule and realizes that Caste Identity plays a very important role in self confidence and self esteem.
As long as there is any sort of discrimination, caste will thrive.
As long as one person is assumed to be better than the other, only by virtue of their birth, caste will thrive.
Fandry is an eye opening film, in the sense that it makes us aware of the inflexible and sadistic caste system and its implementation by the elitist upper castes which is why the lower castes are still a subjugated sect of people. The depiction of such a serious issue through the eyes of a 13 year old in love who is slowly realizing what society really is, is what makes the masses empathize with the story.
“Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind”
Dr BR Ambedkar, AOC, 1936
How can one then even attempt to change the minds of the masses?
How can one change notions that have existed for millennia?
The answer, can again be found in Ambedkar's words:
TO EDUCATE, AGITATE & ORGANIZE
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