A thread on 'Geeli Pucchi'!

One thing that struck me about Neeraj Ghaywan's short 'Geeli Pucchi' from the Netflix anthology 'Ajeeb Daastaan' is that it is probably one of those rare films that problematizes the role of the Brahmin woman in the caste structure.

The last decade might have seen several films that engage with the subject of caste from an anti-caste perspective. But most of these films locate their central conflict between an OBC and SC caste.

And whenever some Brahmin-Savarna filmmaker is involved, a Brahmin savior character is also thrown into the mix.

It is only in the case of Pa Ranjith's 'Kaala' (2018), the antagonist was clearly portrayed as a Brahmin man who was not only part of the State but someone who controlled the real estate business as well.

This same period has also coincided with an increasing number of films made on gender issues. However, these films have been told primarily through the perspective of Brahmin-Savarna women or even men.

Most of these films create a monolithic portrayal of women and to achieve it, they demonstrate an artificial solidarity network between women across caste and class boundaries.

In almost all these films, it is very easy to spot a friendly solidarity between the lady of the house and her domestic worker. The film then uses this to show us how both these women suffer from very similar problems in spite of their caste and class differences.

In fact, this is not even a new trend. As early as 1994, the Tamil film 'Magalir Mattum' created an imaginary solidarity between three working women from different sections of the society - a Brahmin accountant, a Savarna computer engineer and a Dalit housekeeping staff.

The film narrates the story of friendship and solidarity between these three characters and how they fight against the male boss who sexually harasses almost every woman at work.

The amusing trivia about 'Magalir Mattum' is that it was written, directed and produced by three Brahmin men.

Though the film works cinematically, in reality, there hardly exists any workplace friendship between a housekeeping staff and an accountant or computer engineer, irrespective of how liberal they are.

In fact, the most that the liberal of the people have been able to brag is that they let their domestic worker sit on a chair. Or that they let her use the same tea cup as them. Even if this is true, it must be applicable only among a microscopic population.

Because the vast reality is closer to the case of violence that broke out between the landladies and their domestic workers at Mahagun Moderne society at Noida in 2017 - https://www.livemint.com/.../Why-Zohra-Bibis-story-is-not...

That being the scenario, Neeraj takes a break from the existing films on caste or gender and puts the spotlight directly on the Brahmin woman.

While his film is careful to not portray the Brahmin woman as outright evil, it also offers a searing critique of her role in the caste structure.

Priya Sharma, the Brahmin woman in 'Geeli Pucchi' might be a prisoner of her patriarchal home, but still, that doesn't prevent her from inheriting caste privileges and opportunities in spite of being acutely mediocre.

The film goes on to document how Priya Sharma is both 'caste ignorant' and casteist at the same time.

At one level, she is 'caste ignorant' because she is unable to realize how her caste location is bestowing her with privileges at work in spite of being mediocre or how her friend Bharti is unable to have the same opportunities in spite of visibly being more talented.

But at another level, the film also reveals her deep rooted casteism. Priya is able to cross personal and professional boundaries and establish friendship, love and solidarity with Bharti as long as she thinks that Bharti is a Brahmin too.

But the moment it is revealed that Bharti is a Dalit, Priya Sharma throws away all that is established between them. No solidarity seems possible, just like in real life.

Some friends who watched the film complained that the Brahmin woman has been humanized too much.

But in my opinion, I think that is what makes Neeraj's criticism of her even more striking. Because had Priya Sharma been a caricature, it might have been easy to dismiss her portrayal.

But because she feels too real, we can also see her mediocrity, caste privileges, entitlement, ignorance and casteism so much more clearly.