Within four days of release, a complaint has been filed against seven people including director of the National Award winning Gujarati film ‘Hellaro’ for allegedly using casteist slur in a dialogue. Complaint has been filed in Ahmedabad against the director, producer, script writer and editor of the film.
AMC (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation) councillor Jamnaben Vegda has accused the movie of using a casteist slur to refer to one of the main characters. As per reports, Vegda took an objection to one of the dialogues in the movie where Mulji, a dhol player, is asked by sarpanch which caste he belongs to. AMC councillor has said that Mulji’s reply was a casteist slur which has hurt her feelings.
A police complaint has sought action against Hellaro film director Abhishek Shah, producer Ashish C Patel, Nirav C Patel, Ayush Patel, Meet Jani as well as dialogue writer Saumya Joshi and editor Pratik Gupta for allegedly using a word ‘banned by the government’ to ‘insult the community and hurt sentiments’.
Ahmedabad’s Kagdapith Police Inspector U D Jadeja has said that a complaint has been filed and has been forwarded to the SC/ST cell for further investigation.
Hellaro is the first Gujarati film which has been conferred with a National Award. It was adjudged ‘Best Feature Film’ at the 66th Annual National Film Awards. The film is set in remote village in Rann of Kutch of Gujarat in 1975. Garba, the dance form from Gujarat, plays a significant part in the film. It is a story about patriarchy in rural Gujarat and how a bunch of women escape the suppression. The film was released commercially on 8th November. Its trailer can be seen here.
