Educational Media Reviews Online

Breaking the Caste is the story of Fatima Burnad who has dedicated her life to fight for “her people” – Dalits, against oppression by the upper castes, rich and the landlords. She is especially concerned about Dalit women who are the targets of such discrimination and abuse by both the upper caste/ rich/landlord men as well as their own spouses. Narrated by Rachel Ward, including an interview with Fatima, scenes of dramatic recreation, and some archival footage, this movie portrays the fight of a fearless Indian woman against a more than 3000-year-old discrimination problem.

A quick introduction to the caste system provides the context of Fatima’s struggle. Society in India used to be strictly divided into functional groups of priests, soldiers (or administrators), artisans (or commercialists), farmers and the untouchables (Dalits). Untouchability was abolished after India gained its independence from British Colonial rule in 1947. According to Fatima, the concept of untouchability was abolished, but the practice continues, especially against the Dalits. They are the people who work to keep everyone else clean. They wash clothes, they clean toilets and sweep streets and so on and in turn are spurned by the rich and the landlords who use their services. They are discriminated against in numerous ways including not being allowed to drink water from a common well, having a wall inside the church to separate them from the rest who pray and so on. The society effectively separates them from normal life. “When they are referred to as untouchables, it is even more derogatory.” Dal in the word Dalit refers to broken and Fatima says, “these people [Dalits] are broken, broken psychologically and shunned by society.”

In a traditional documentary style, Fatima, the fearless Asian woman and her work is illustrated with information on background issues, archival footage, and dramatic representation of protest scenes. Born in 1952 in TamilNadu, India, Fatima was only 12 when she first raised her voice against spousal abuse. She reported the repeated beating of a wife by her husband to the local police inspector who later arrested the husband for abuse. Fatima says that she derived her inspiration from her father (an evangelical priest who did social work), and mental and physical strength from her mother. She finished college and then studied further in the United States as well as in the United Kingdom. Her passion was social work, so she returned to India and formed a women’s movement called “Rural Woman’s liberation.”

Fatima organized protests and struggled with issues of violence towards Dalits and the vulnerability of their lives. Her deep anger against the atrocities committed by upper caste rich men as well as Dalit husbands and the helplessness of Dalit women is well portrayed in the movie. In one of her protests against Dalit farmland being taken over to build a church, she suffers a close call with death and gets excommunicated by the church. She regularly organizes demonstrations, holds meetings and educates Dalit men and women about discrimination, despite the knowledge that she is constantly in danger of being killed. She has also presented at international conferences and workshops to raise awareness of the plight of Dalits in the world. Fatima formed the TamilNadu Woman’s Forum in which a team of women and men go from village to village to educate people about discrimination through song and dance (like street theatre). However, she feels that the non-violent approach does not get Dalits’ voices heard. “We cannot keep quiet when there is violence on the Dalits by the state, landlords, and the rich. I believe grassroots people should throw away the system forcibly and violently.” Dalit is now a political identity and it is fast becoming a political force. This film illustrates the core issues of caste and gender discrimination and the significance of and desperate need for grassroots type social work against deep-rooted social problems. It also emphatically portrays (through Fatima’s work) the kind of strength, courage and commitment needed to work against such problems.