http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Dalits_strive_to_make_it_in_Hindi_Bhojpuri_films/articleshow/2929497.cms
Dalits strive to make it in Hindi, Bhojpuri films 6 Apr 2008, 0050 hrs IST,Avijit Ghosh,TNN The film producer asked him to wait. And Birendra Paswan, then a greenhorn writer-actor who had arrived in Mumbai barely a fortnight ago, waited. The wait turned out to be longer than expected. One hour. Two hours. Three hours. "I could hear him chatting loudly and laughing. Even today the laughter echoes in my ears. He clearly had no intention of granting me an audience. I felt humiliated. After three hours, I chose to leave," he recalls. Birendra was livid that afternoon. But the young man opted to harness that anger. "I decided to use the incident to motivate myself, to strengthen my resolve to succeed in the Mumbai filmworld," he says. It's been nearly a decade since. And the 33-year-old Dalit who comes from the boondocks of Bihar's Aurangabad district still hasn't made it big. But he is slowly finding his feet, establishing his identity. He is the dialogue writer of the new big-budget Bhojpuri film, Ego Chumma De Da Raja Ji starring Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, two superstars of the genre. "I am also penning the screenplay and dialogues for a film being made by Raman Kumar (of Saath Saath fame) and also writing a comedy called, Main Hoon Don," he says. Birendra is among a bunch of Dalit actors, directors and technicians who are mapping out a brave new world in Hindi and Bhojpuri films. There's Sudam Waghmare, 45, from Nashik, whose debut Hindi feature as a director, Ummeed, starring Shatrughan Sinha, Poonam Dhillion and Mohan Joshi, is set to be released next month. There's Muni Laal, 42, who has done bit roles (Bobby Deol's 23rd March 1931, Shaheed) and who is hoping that his negative role in director Hridesh Kambli's Pranali set to be released next month will help him gain recognition. And there's Gopal Paswan, 35, who started out doing micro-mini roles in films like Shararat, the flop Abhishek Bachchan starrer, but has now become a casting director in the television serial, Bahubali. "I am also assisting Tanveer Ahmed (Akarshan, Chirutha) in his under-production film, Ada," he says. Award-winning audiographer Suresh Paswan, 47, who came to Mumbai back in 1975 and has since worked in over 50 films, says that compared to the 1980s more Dalits are coming to the Mumbai entertainment industry. "Earlier they didn't even think on those lines. But now we can see them working as technicians, creative writers and actors," says Suresh, who has done Bollywood films such as Aflatoon, Salakhein and who won a best sound recordist award from Gujarat state for the regional film, Paiso Mharo Parmeshwar. His forthcoming films include Chandan Arora's Striker. With no godfather and nobody to network with, they have all struggled hard in a world of Chopras, Kapoors and Khans. Muni Laal reveals that once he even became a marriage witness to make some money. "A man once asked me to repair his house and took me to Thane. When we reached there, he said whether I was willing to be a marriage witness. He was actually a runaway lover. I was desperate, so I agreed. He gave me Rs 175 and a pair of chappals for the job," he recounts. At least one of them has faced caste discrimination. Gopal recalls the incident. "I was called for a shooting. But when the man in-charge heard my surname, he said, 'Accha tum bhi actor ho.' (So even you are an actor). There was no work for me after that though I got Rs 200 as conveyance allowance," he says. Such discrimination, though, is not common. Sudam, who has also acted in Govind Nihalani's Drohkaal and assisted actor-director Shafi Inamdaar in Hum Dono, says he never faced any form of caste bias. "Everybody has helped me and co-operated with me," he says. There have been good Samaritans too. Gopal says he was treated like a family member by the veteran actor A K Hangal who allowed him to stay with him. Suresh owes a huge debt to camera assistant Gopal Hegde who helped him graduate from an office boy to an audiographer. Nonetheless, some actors prefer to hide their caste identity for fear of discrimination. "They change their surnames to Prasad, Vishwas and Saagar. Some of them come to me and say, 'Main bhi wohi hoon jo aap hain' (We are one of a kind)," says Birendra, who has also been involved with several other Bhojpuri films: Nautanki (2006 as writer) and Najariya Kahe ke Ladavla (2003) as writer-director, the latter loosely based on the life of an infamous henchman-politician in eastern Uttar Pradesh. It's also a matter of class. Most Dalit artistes come from underprivileged backgrounds. Gopal's father works as a contract employee in a canteen. Sudam's father passed away when he was two; his mother worked as a housemaid. "You have to spend lakhs of rupees to get into a modern film school. We don't have that kind of money," he says. There are exceptions though. Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag has also been signed to do a film. It has been an arduous journey so far. But the artistes and the technicians are determined to go all the way. Birendra plans to form a group where young struggling Dalits will be offered free guidance. "The future will be better than the past," he says. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
