Since it was released last week, Neeraj Ghaywan’s fifth episode of Made in Heaven 2 has been the subject of controversy. In the episode, Radhika Apte plays Dalit novelist Pallavi Menke, who accepts her identity and speaks out in support of her community. The episode explores how casteism persists in modern society. On Monday, journalist and author Yashica Dutt criticised the makers of Made in Heaven for putting “a version of her life on screen without permission or credit” and shared how the episode “gave her chills.” Dutt is the author of Coming Out as Dalit, an overview of what it means to be Dalit in India.
Yashica wrote on social media, “It’s been an overwhelming few days. Seeing my likeness on screen without warning or permission was a roller-coaster starting from thrill and excitement to sadness and loss. I continue to support @neeraj.ghaywan’s excellent work, whether now with Made in Heaven or Geeli Pucchi before. But this needs to be addressed.”
She further said, “Before I came out as Dalit in 2016, there was no vocabulary to identify the process of revealing your Dalitness after hiding it for years and owning it with pride either. Today, in 2023, there is both. Dalit directors like Neeraj Ghaywan have revolutionised our cinematic language by showcasing unapologetic Dalits in Bollywood, a tradition that has an even longer history in Southern cinema.”
She stated, “The Heart Skipped a Beat, the fifth episode of Prime Video’s Made in Heaven is no less than a cinematic triumph, when it comes to showcasing what it truly looks like for a Dalit woman to take her power back in this casteist society.”
Posting her reaction to the episode, Yashica added, “The scene where the Dalit author, who is from Columbia, has written a book about ‘coming out’ and talks about her grandmother ‘manually cleaning toilets’, asserts her selfhood with her life partner-to-be, gave me chills. It was surreal to see a version of my life on screen that was not, but yet was still me. But soon the heartbreak set in. They were my words, but my name was nowhere… The ideas I cultivated, that are my life’s work, that I continue to receive immense hate for just speaking, were taken without permission or credit.””
Yashica went on to say that as more Dalits are being depicted on screen, filmmakers ought to “duly acknowledge those who contributed to creating those ideas.”
Yashica wrapped up by writing, “I request Neeraj Ghaywan, and the show creators Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti to formally acknowledge my life’s work and ideas that contributed to this episode, which is among the most-talked in the entire series, beyond a post on social media and within the show’s credits. So that the millions of viewers know its central ideas were not created out of ether, but out of the blood, sweat and a lifetime of tears of a Dalit woman that the world had decided to cast aside.”
The Prime Video anthology series, which was created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, stars wedding planners Karan Mehra and Sobhita Dhulipala.
