‘Jab caste system hi nahin hai to....’: Anurag Kashyap rants about controversy over Phule movie

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap did not mince his words over the controversy surrounding the movie Phule, a film based on the life and work of Jyotirao Govindrao Phule and his wife, Savitribai Phule.

The Brahmin community reportedly raised objections to the movie's portrayal of them.

Outraged by the controversy, Anurag Kashyap questioned how the Brahmins still exist if Prime Minister Narendra Modi has successfully eradicated the caste system in India.

In an Instagram post, Kashyap said the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had said during the screening of Dhadak 2 that “Modi ji ne India mein caste system khatam kar diya hai.”

So, based on the same, the movie Santosh was not released in India, he said.

“Ab Brahmin ko problem hai Phule se. Bhaiya, jab caste system hi nahin hai to kahe ka Brahmin. Kaun ho aap?” he asked.

The filmmaker questioned why the Brahmins were outraged by the movie “Jab caste system tha nahin toh?”

“Jyotiba Phule our Savitri bai kyon the?” he asked sarcastically.

“Ya toh aap ka bahmnism exist hi nahin karta kyon ki Modi ji ke hisaab se india mein caste system nahin hai? Ya sab log milke sab ko ch*****a bana rahe ho,” he lashed out in irritation.

“Bhai mil ke decide kar lo, India mein casteism hai ya nahi,” he said.

Earlier, the filmmaker had also shared a story expressing his dismal over the delay in the release of the movie Phule.

The release of Phule, starring Pratik Gandhi and Patralekhaa, has been delayed due to objections raised by the Brahmin community. The film's director, Ananth Mahadevan, clarified that the delay was not because of the censor board-suggested amendments.

It was set for release on April 11 but it will now arrive in theatres on April 25.

"They had suggested some amendments, I wouldn’t call it cuts. I want to clarify that there are no cuts as such. We did so (complied with the suggested amendments).

Mahadevan claimed, “Brahmins got carried away by a two-minute trailer”, but there is nothing objectionable in the movie.

What cuts have the Censor board suggested?

The censor board had issued a ‘U’ certificate to the makers and had asked them to remove terms such as 'Mang', 'Mahar' and 'Peshwai', replace the visual of 'a man carrying a broom' with 'boys throwing cow dung balls at Savitribai', and the line ‘3,000 saal purani gulami’ to be modified as ‘kai saal purani’, among a few other tweaks.

What is the controversy?

After the trailer was unveiled online on April 10, some members of the Brahmin community raised objections, stating that they had been portrayed in a poor light.

Maharashtra-based organisation Hindu Mahasangh's president Anand Dave expressed his displeasure after watching the trailer of Phule.

He said it is unfair to only “highlight the not-so-good things” about the Brahmin community.

"The trailer shows a Brahmin boy throwing cow dung at Savitribai Phule. We understand that we need to show the good and the bad. But we can’t see the good things done by the community, like how Brahmin people supported Mahatma Phule. It is unfair to show only the bad things done by Brahmins,” Dave told PTI.

(With agency inputs)