People are talking about the movie 12th Fail and its emotional scenes from a Dalit perspective. This movie needs to be seen critically. Emotionally, this movie tried to connect with the audience. This Movie depicts the struggle of a person to crack the UPSC examination. The main characters in this movie are Manoj Sharma, Pritam Pandey, Shraddha Joshi, and Gauri Bhaiya. Manoj Sharma was shown as a person who came from a poor family; his father was in a job and later got suspended; in the movie, it has been shown that he was poor and came to Delhi and struggled a lot to crack the IAS exam. When Manoj was coming to Delhi to become an IAS, his belongings and money were stolen. Then he got help from Pritam Pandey; Pritam Pandey helped him to travel to Delhi; he got help in Delhi also from Gauri Bhaiya; it seems like he was getting help instantly from whomever he was coming in contact with. He got admission to a coaching institution instantly with help.

What is it? We can call it a Caste privilege because he was getting help from everywhere. If the character had been a Dalit, would he/she have gotten this help instantly? I think No. It is hard for a Dalit to get the kind of help that Manoj Sharma in the movie was getting. Does the main character of the movie face discrimination because of his Caste in school? Did he drop out of school because of Caste discrimination and humiliation? Does he get beaten because of his Caste? Faced humiliated because of his Caste? Does Manoj’s father get humiliated because of his Caste? Do Manoj’s father and his forefather put human excrement on his head? Is Manoj not allowed to mingle with others because of his Caste? Does he have to hide his father’s surname in school and college because of his Caste? Does his Mother get humiliated because of her Caste? This was the Caste privilege of the hero in the movie, who doesn’t have to go through all this that a Dalit aspirant goes through. This is the Caste privilege That Manoj Sharma in the movie got, and he got help from everyone whom he met. That is the Caste privilege, Which Caste privileged people haven’t acknowledged yet. This movie does not show the hidden privileges that he was getting because of his Caste. In this movie, it is shown that Manoj gets a chance to give an interview twice; if he had been a Dalit, he would not have gotten the chance to face an interview twice. We can see the case of Tina Dabi, a topper, but even today, people use Casteist slurs and question her merit only because she comes from a Dalit community. The so-called question of “Merit” is always connected with a Dalit.

This Movie looks like the glorification of a person who comes from a Caste that is regarded as superior in society to show how hardworking he was. There are many Dalits who want to have a better career. Still, no one comes into their life and support like Manoj Sharma in the movie was getting because of lack of money, lack of resources, lack of social capital, and obviously because of his Caste. Many Dalits have to leave their studies and have been compelled to drop out of school because of a lack of resources because of Caste humiliation, Which a person who was born in a Caste that is regarded as superior will never know. In this movie, it has also been shown that, while searching for coaching, Manoj found Shraddha Joshi; he slowly started to love her and proposed to Shraddha. Shraddha also accepted his proposal, and Shraddha told him that even if you do not become an IAS, she would love him; Shraddha was her support during his entire journey. Does this thing happen if a character is a Dalit? Probably not, because Caste would have become the barrier. Both Manoj and Shraddha came from a family that is regarded as superior in society, so it became easier for both of them to marry in a Society where everything is decided by Caste. If Manoj had been a Dalit, his Love would not have been accepted, and it would not have turned into marriage; one needs only to Google, and one will find what price a Dalit pays for loving a person to those whose Caste is regarded as a superior in the society when you google, you will find many cases where a Dalit gets killed, or the girl who was loving to a Dalit gets killed only merely for loving. The love of a Dalit and the affection of a Dalit have not been accepted in society. They have been prohibited from loving or being loved. Dalits have felt the burden of Caste as no one else has. Love makes each other evolve into good human beings. Touch, the touch of Love, the touch of affection, and the touch of acceptance, Dalits have been deprived of all of this because their touch becomes Untouchables to others.

Whatever is shown in the 12th Fail Movie may happen in the life of a Caste which is regarded as superior in society but not in the life of a Dalit against whom the worst kind of caste atrocities took place; not any person will come randomly in the life of a Dalit and help them. The movie failed to acknowledge the advantages that privileged Caste people get. Being born into a Caste that is regarded as superior in society is itself a privilege because they don’t have to face Untouchability or discrimination, they don’t have to hide their parent’s name from others, they don’t have to live in fear in a childhood that if others will know their Caste they will beat you, they will not talk to you, they will not sit with you, teachers don’t make fun of them and question their credibility in school, teachers don’t laugh and make fun of them in whole class because of their Caste. They don’t have to face this all. All this is being faced by Dalits. When a Dalit is born in a home, he knows that he has been born in a Dalit’s house, and from that moment, the struggle of a Dalit starts. The struggles, sufferings, and pain of a Dalit have never been acknowledged by mainstream Bollywood movies and Castes who are regarded as superior in society. The struggles and sufferings of Dalits have been normalized in society; when atrocities happen to a Dalit, people ask what is new in it. This shows how the pain and suffering of Dalits have been normalized.

What privileged Caste people get unseen privileges from birth? Privileged of not being segregated, separated in society, Privileged of not living in the outskirts of the village. Do privileged Caste people acknowledge the privilege they get? With the Social Capital in which privileged Caste people are born, Dalits have been deprived of it. Privileged Caste people have not been deprived of education for thousands of years; they were allowed. But Dalits had been deprived; it is because of Baba Saheb’s Constitution that Dalits got rights and fought for their place in a society where they have still been beaten for small, petty things, where still in the universities they have been otherized, and many times they are being compelled to take their lives. Privileged Caste also has the advantage that no one questions their so-called “Merit,” they were always regarded as meritorious, but Dalits have been regarded as so-called “meritless.” Merit is a vague concept; what is this so-called “Merit” when you are not allowed to compete or get an education and are deprived of each and everything for ages? What is this so-called “Merit”? The people who are born in a Caste that is regarded as privileged in society have never acknowledged the unseen privilege that they get. In the movie, it is shown that the main character is showing slippers. The father of the hero is also shown showing slippers to the officer when he gets suspended, his brother shows slippers to the workers of MLA, and he himself shows slippers to the library staff. It is the privilege of the Caste to show the slippers because of the Caste in which the hero of the movie is born. Does Dalit ever do this? No, if they do, they will be beaten brutally by society, and society will say, how dare a Dalit show the slippers?

We have seen in caste atrocities cases whenever Dalits raised their voices; they were beaten; we have seen this from Khairlanji to Hathras. Recently, in Gujarat, a woman allegedly forced a Dalit to hold footwear in his mouth, and in Tamil Nadu, only recently, 60 Dalits broke the pre-independence era discrimination and walked with slippers; one can only Google and see how many cases where Dalits are being garlanded with slippers and beaten with slippers for raising voice. This is the privilege with which Manoj is born, which has been shown in the movie, where he can show slippers to others. In a Society where Dalits are being hit with slippers, garlanded with slippers, putting slippers on their head and making them apologize, Urinating on the head of Dalits. Does this happen with a Caste that is regarded as superior in society? Beating others with slippers is also a privilege, and it is a Caste privilege. Do the people who are born in a Caste, Which is regarded as a privilege in a society, question themselves? Power from unseen privilege can look like strength when it is, in fact, permission to dominate. Caste-privileged people need to know that the Caste in which they are born, they are born with certain advantages that Dalits have been deprived of. They don’t have to face what Dalits have to face on a daily basis; they are not humiliated because of their Caste. They are born with certain advantages, which Dalits have been deprived of. We don’t decide in which home we will take birth, but at least the unseen privileges which a person who is born in a Caste which is regarded as superior in society, at least they should acknowledge that privilege; it is crucial that they reflect on the advantages they have and acknowledge the disparities faced by Dalits, Recognising privilege is a crucial step towards fostering a more equitable society. Dalits did nothing to deserve the unequal treatment that happened to them. The Onus is not on Dalits to make a Casteless society; the onus is on the Castes that enjoyed the privilege of their Caste since ages.

Author – Akhilesh Kumar, PhD Scholar at Jamia Millia Islamia University( Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies), PhD work on Dr. Ambedkar and the Question of Marginalization.