Keyword Caste Discrimination

Ramnarayan Tiwari, a Brahmin (uppermost caste as per the caste system in India) is a peon in a government undertaking, where recently, a Dalit (lower caste), has risen to become a big officer. Tiwari burns with resentment towards this officer’s hierarchical superiority because he considers himself superior as per the religiously ingrained caste system. Tiwari is also frustrated as his promotion has been overdue for years. The officer’s bathroom’s drain has choked. Tiwari tries to look for the official sweeper, also a lower caste man. This role-reversal story is about how Tiwari’s need for promotion, and his caste prejudice towards the officer, counterbalance each other to solve the problem of the choked drain.

"Buraku" or "Buraku-min" are the terms used for ethnic Japanese people who are believed to descend from the pre-Meiji castes. Today, neither "Buraku" nor "Burakumin" exist anymore in terms of laws and social systems. However, many Japanese people still have a deep-rooted sense of discrimination towards people who descend from those families. Why does something that should not exist continue to exist? How did this discrimination begin in the first place? This film takes a variety of approaches to unravel the history of accumulated discrimination and its intricately intertwined context, from its origins and evolution, vividly depicting the structure of discrimination that often remains hidden from the public eye.

Biscut is a powerful film on the state of politics in Uttar Pradesh and offers a gritty and hard-hitting take on the treatment of the backward classes and their never-ending exploitation in the caste-dominated political landscape of Uttar Pradesh.