One of the initial scenes of Namthu Chinam? (Our symbol?) Pudukotai has been set in Puthuwalasal village in the district, where the residents have decided to boycott the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, after the absence of any action to improve their lives, such as transportation and clean drinking water.
A young resident, a big bottle of water takes a big circle from a manual pump describing the clarity of the water, inhabited by the upper caste residents in another village.
A documentary about the elections that begins with a Dalit village, which removes them, is appropriate in its irony, according to a 51 -minute Tamil documentary directed by journalist Grisma Kutthi and academic Manju Priya.
Manju Priya’s and Group Kuthar | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Namthu Chinam?The 2024 Lok Sabha elections were shot in Tamil Nadu in the days, the 17th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFK) premiered as part of the election diary 2024.
The Documentary produced by the Center for Modern Indian Studies (CEMIS) further investigates the expression of caste in the cultural capital in Dravidian politics.
“Cultural nationalism is something that I am reporting a lot as a journalist,” Greeshma, who has covered large -scale politics in different parts of the country during an interview after a premiere.
Says Manju, “Discussion on the cultural capital of Brahmins is popular. In the last few decades, the cultural capital of the intermediary castes is slowly increasing, the Dravidian parties have campaigned around it,” Manju says, stated the symmetry of problems faced by people in Tamil Nadu as only a genderistic issue.
Udayanidhi Stalin during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Every time someone wants to make a film on a caste, the only task is to go to someone who has faced caste discrimination and ask them ‘what happened’ and ‘How are you feeling’. We wanted to put a camera in front of someone from a major caste at the center of the caste capital,” Gresma says.
Both detected this dualism through two art forms, alien and Valli Kumi. East is practiced by the Gounder Caste, owner of the land by Dalits and the latter, which belongs to other backward classes (OBC) category.
Traditional art involves playing a drum made with wood and a stretched animal membrane. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Namthu Chinam? Valli gradually discovers the growing support for Kumi, which is telling the story of Devi Valli, a story dance performance. The manufacturers say that this cultural capital has been accused of depositing, in which the parties have ignored their racist nuances.
“For example, they administer the oath to young girls that they will not marry outside their caste,” Gresma says that the action becomes uncontrolled due to the importance of the community as an important vote bank in the state.
“All this is done in the name of preserving culture and returning to their roots,” says Manju.
In addition, alien artists are exploited and underpaid for their work. Playing Parai as traditional art involves playing a traditional drum that is prepared from wood and spreads the skin of animals.
Says Manju, “Political parties in Tamil Nadu are willing to protect a major caste culture,” shows how the film argues that caste identity is invited or ignored on the basis of electoral context. For example, she cites Ambedkar’s existence only as a caste icon, which emphasizes during the election.
The film has a powerful sequence of the statue of Ambedkar, a prisoner in Ramanathapuram, the site of some of the state’s most violent caste crimes. The footage depicts politicians who visited Ambedkar Jayanti on 14 April, after which a retired Dalit Headmaster said, “Only when Babasaheb is accepted by all, the cage will disappear.”
Changing definitions
The film shows the recent use of RAM or Ramar As a symbol in Tamil Nadu. It also sees how other gods, such as Murugan and Meenakshi, are developed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and create more “icons contained in Tamil Nadu”.
The producers find out the presence of women candidates in the election. In a sequence, a female candidate was indicated about what to say during election campaigns. “We want women leaders not to emerge as a token,” says Manju.
Published – August 26, 2025 11:45 pm IST
