The film that made me cry in recent times is "Jai Bhim" starring Suriya. I feel guilty for living in a society where such menacing incidents happened.
Had this film not been made, I would have still had the impression that the suppression of Scheduled Castes and Tribes in modern India was a politically driven drama, believing that it ended up centuries ago.
I reluctantly started to watch the film "Jai Bhim" on Amazon Prime knowing the content of the film apparently. I have had an opinion that this kind of films are over-dramatized and fictionalized to bring sympathy to a particular section of people. I generally stop midway watching films based on castes and caste oppression. But this film pulled my emotional strings. I know what I was watching is true. In the end, I came to know that it was a true incident.
As I was watching all alone on my laptop, I could connect to this wholeheartedly without the influence of any fellow audience. I wept, shed tears, washed my face twice and continued to watch. At the end of the film, it was like cleansing of my ignorance.
As I was watching the film, I didn't feel that the characters were moving in front of me. They are the lives depicted so naturally that I got mesmerized and travelled with Sintalli's character.
The kind of tyranny applied on the poor innocent souls and the disgusting types of violence thrown on them is abhorring and disturbing.
The feeling that hit my mind while watching this film was- 'What kind of independance the Tribal people in India got after 1947? Their plight might have been far better in British Raj though there were oppressions even at that time'.
Some dialogues are really hard hitting. The top cop offers a ransom to the wife of the deceased to withdraw the case against the police atrocity.
Then the lady says, "What should I answer to my kids when they ask in future how they have been fed? Should I tell them that they lived all the years with the money given by the murderers of their father?"
This speaks about the character and self esteem of the downtrodden. The tears flooded from my eyes watching this scene.
There are many great moments all over. I wish this film would be watched by every Indian. At least the present and the future generations live with the spirit this film offered.
I am just sharing my experience here. This is not a review. I hope it is not so easy to make this kind of genuine film again and again. I bow my head to actor Suriya and Jyothika for producing this and double salutes to director Jnanavel for bringing this to us. Jai Bheem!
Samyukta Mullapudi, Hyderabad
