Begumpura Film Club TISS Mumbai

Begampura Film Club

“The regal realm with the sorrowless name:
they call it Begumpura, a place with no pain,
No taxes or cares, none owns property there,
no wrongdoing, worry, terror, or torture.
Oh my brother, I've come to take it as my own,
my distant home where everything is right.
That imperial kingdom is rich and secure,
where none are third or second – all are one;
They do this or that, they walk where they wish,
they stroll through fabled palaces unchallenged.
Oh, says Ravidas, a tanner now set free,
those who walk beside me are my friends”

‘Begumpura’ is a utopia of Saint Ravidas, who imagined a “city without sorrow” with no inequality, no taxes, no torture or harassment but abundance and freedom for all. Essentially, it talks about an egalitarian space free from all sort of exploitation. Taking forward this idea, we, a group of Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai have started this film club to start a discourse on caste and race prejudices that are deep-rooted in our society. We aim to create a space for Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi filmmakers/upcoming filmmakers whilst building a discourse around Media and Brahminism.


India has witnessed a tremendous growth in various media technologies. The forms of discourse have been evolved from print to digital media platforms. There has been a lot of reporting in newspapers, journals and magazines about Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi history, Dalit studies or caste and race in general. But the debate on caste is yet to make its presence felt in the visual media like cinema.


We believe that films are a strong medium of communication and transfer of the ideas with the masses and also consider cinema to be a reflection/mirror of the society. Our understanding of cinema tells us that Indian cinema has largely been dominated by the Brahmanical ideas and has been perpetuating caste in various forms. Through our film club we aim to unpack the Brahmanical reality of cinema and try to locate films in the realm of culture. Therefore both culture and counter-cultural assertions will be our focus of critique. The purpose of Begumpura Film Club is to create a space for new expressions of marginalized communities through films.


For any information please feel free to contact :
Riya Singh : 8860020916
Divya Kandukuri: 8376872622
Somanath Waghmare: 7745886950