Vinod Kamble’s debut feature Kastoori—The Musk, in Hindi, is a powerful, deeply moving film that addresses caste issues. Presented by Anurag Kashyap and Nagraj Manjule, it releases in theatres on December 8, the week of December 6, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s death anniversary. The film is a stark mirror to upper castes, who are often staggeringly ignorant, have absolutely no idea how the other half lives, yet are quick to denounce and attack lower castes, caste reservations, “those jaibhimwallahs,” and in ostrich-like denial about caste realities. Kastoori was at 13 film festivals, including the Sydney Film Festival, Jio MAMI Mumbai and Dharamshala film festivals, and New York Indian FF, and won the National Award for Best Children’s Film. Made in Marathi and dubbed in Hindi, it will be released widely at least in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Delhi, and will be available on Bookmyshow.

I’ve long had an interest in caste issues, and had curated The Die is Caste for the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2017, a package of films and music on caste from all over India. We had screened Bikas Mishra’s Chauranga (in Khortha), Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat (Marathi), BV Karanth’s Chomana Dudi (Kannada) and (the Malayali) John Abraham’s Agraharathil Kazhuthai (Donkey in a Brahmin Village, Tamil). And later complemented the films with live music performances by Dalit protest singer Bant Singh and his daughter Baljit Kaur (Punjab), Tamil Parai artists Manimaran, Magizhini, Samaran and Iniyan (Chennai), and the Karinthalakoottam indigenous folk troupe from Thrissur, Kerala. Kastoori adds to a solid body of films on caste, that includes Masaan, Article 15 (Hindi), Court (Marathi, Hindi), Pa Ranjith’s Kaala, Kabali, Sarpatta Parambarai (Tamil), Rajeev Ravi’s Kammati Padam (Malayalam) and more.