When I watched RRR, I didn’t realize that the film reproduced an upper-caste Hindu nationalist fantasy aligned with contemporary Hindutva ideology. By reading the Vox article, I noticed that both protagonists, Raju and Bheem, are portrayed in ways that make Raju seem the educated, visionary savior and Bheem shown as emotionally driven and illiterate “noble savage.” I learned that many popular films are made by upper-caste directors and actors, not confronting the caste system issues in society. I wanted to search if any films actually criticize this nature of Indian films relying on upper-caste “savior” narratives.
This article from Hindus for Human Rights examines how the Indian caste system continues to shape popular cinema. It first explains that caste is not just a historical phenomenon but a living structure that still affects education, economic opportunity, policing, and social mobility. The article highlights how Indian films have historically avoided directly confronting caste or have softened it through romance and nationalism to avoid criticism.
It then contrasts older films with more recent works like Jai Bhim (2021), which directly depicts caste-based police violence against an Adivasi family, and Article 15 (2019), which addresses caste discrimination but has been criticized for relying on an upper-caste “savior” protagonist. Through these examples, the article argues that cinema can either reinforce or challenge caste hierarchies by centering the voices of marginalized communities.
This source is worthwhile because it provides a clear framework for analyzing how caste operates in the film industry. I think this is useful for our discussion of RRR tomorrow because it helps identify whether a movie truly centers marginalized voices or instead reproduces an elite-savior narrative. Since the article is written by a human rights organization, its perspective is strongly activist and critical, but that also makes it effective at questioning films that appear progressive on the surface while remaining politically limited beneath the surface.
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