Review of “Daughters of Destiny” in the current socio-political context of India
In my film reviews, I try to answer this question in the viewer’s mind — “Why should I watch this?”
The background: I must admit that having grown up in an upper-caste reasonably-well-off Hindu family, in small a secluded valley at the foothills of the Himalayas, I was oblivious to the heat and dust of the real India. And, unfortunately, I am no exception.
The British, French, and Spanish colonies were to their colonial subjects what the Nazis were to the Jews. It is just that the atrocities in the concentration camps happened over a concentrated period of time while the vile actions of the other western European colonial powers were spread over a few centuries. Besides, there was more media coverage about Hitler’s misdeeds than there were about the misdeeds of his other western-European peers, and that is how the mainstream psyche and opinions were formed, for most people in most parts of the world.
But this is where the story begins. In the previous paragraph, I was referring to the nastiness of the western colonial powers to give you some context and an anchor point. The British rule in India lasted for about 200 years. However, the rule of the upper caste Hindus on the lower caste ones has now lasted for about 3000 to 5000 years!
There are primarily four castes in Hindu society. The Brahmins are on the top and are the priests, the educators, and the learned ones of the society. Next come the Kshatriyas who are the warrior class, the landlords, and the feudal lords and kings. Next, come the Vaishyas or the business class and they are the money people owning all the businesses. These three together form the upper caste of the Hindu society and it has been like that for thousands of years.
The lowest caste is called the Shudras. They do all the menial low-end jobs like that of a cobbler, a tailor, a cleaner, a sweeper, and so on. Among them too there are subcategories and the lowest ones are untouchables or Achoots or Dalits. They live away from the main settlements and are not allowed to draw water from the same well in the village. In the olden days if an upper-caste Hindu so much as stepped on the shadow of one of these…
