低カースト層描く映画に脚光　差別や貧困テーマ インド

【ムンバイＡＦＰ＝時事】インドで独立系映画監督が搾取・差別される側に置かれた低カースト層を作品に描き、注目されている。（写真はアマゾンで配信されたタミル語の法廷劇『ジャイビーム』の一場面。アマゾン・プライムビデオ・インド提供）
　中心となっているのは南部タミル語の映画界「コリウッド」の監督で、監督自身、カーストの最下層出身者もいる。
　コリウッドの名は、タミルナド州チェンナイにある、映画制作会社が集まるコーダンバッカム地区に由来する。
　広大なインドでは、公用語のヒンディー語のほか、２１の言語が憲法で公認されている。映画ではヒンディー語の「ボリウッド」が有名だが、コリウッドなど少数言語の映画界は目立たない存在だ。
　そんな中、映画館での上映ではなく、インターネット通販サイト、アマゾンで配信された、タミル語の法廷劇『ジャイビーム』が、映画データベースＩＭＤｂで１０点中９．５点を獲得するなど、高い評価を受けている。
　『ジャイビーム』は、窃盗容疑で拘束中に拷問を受け死亡した部族民男性の妻の訴えを受け、正義を求め闘う弁護士の物語で、実話に基づいている。司法による暴力を余さず描いていると称賛されている。弁護士役を演じるのはタミル語映画界のトップスター、スーリヤだ。
　Ｔ・Ｊ・ニャナベル監督（４２）はＡＦＰに対し「私たちは声を上げたい。社会の沈黙は警察の暴力よりも残酷だ」と述べた。
　主人公のモデルで、後に裁判官になったＫ・チャンドル氏（７０）は、作品を見た若者から、取り上げられたような部族民が存在し、差別に直面しているとは知らなかったと告げられたと語った。
　タミルナド州のＭ・Ｋ・スターリン首相は、作品を見て気が重くなったとし、部族民が福祉や飲料水、電気などを利用できるよう支援すると表明した。
　コリウッドでは、『ジャイビーム』以外にも、低カースト層に焦点を合わせた作品が増えている。
　『小石（原題Ｋｏｏｚｈａｎｇａｌ）』は、アルコール依存症の父親と息子を通じて貧困と家父長制度の問題を描いている。今年の米アカデミー賞「国際長編映画賞」に、インド代表作品として出品された。

■「覚醒の始まり」
　インドには、カースト制度最下層のダリットがおよそ２億人、社会の周縁に位置付けられる部族民が１億人以上いる。
　しかし、こうした人たちの人生が映画で描かれることはほとんどない。
　ニーラジ・ガイワン監督は、ボリウッドでは、低カーストは高カーストによる救済を必要とする抑圧された人々として描かれることが多く、似たような役柄になりがちだと指摘する。
　ガイワン氏の初監督作品『マサーン』は、２０１５年のカンヌ国際映画祭で二つの賞を受賞した。
　映画史を専門とするＳ・セオドア・バスカラン氏は、『ジャイビーム』のほか、ダリット出身の映画監督による作品が商業的に成功したことは、インド映画の「覚醒の始まり」だと述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/12-12:22）

Facing systemic exploitation and discrimination, India's lowest castes have barely been acknowledged on the big screen. Now independent, mostly non-Hindi language filmmakers are challenging attitudes with powerful stories of injustice to give them a voice.
Many of the directors are from the Tamil film industry Kollywood -- nicknamed after Chennai's Kodambakkam district where many studios are based -- with some from the oppressed communities at the bottom of the country's rigid caste system.
In a vast nation of 22 official tongues, Kollywood and other minority-language producers are often overshadowed by the glitzy, Hindi Bollywood.
But Tamil legal drama Jai Bhim, released on Amazon's streaming platform instead of cinemas, has attracted rave reviews and currently stands as the highest-rated film by all voters globally on movie database IMDb, with a score of 9.5.
Based on the true story of a lawyer battling for justice for a tribal woman whose husband was accused of theft and tortured and killed in police custody, Jai Bhim has been praised for its unflinching portrayal of judicial violence.
It has also been hailed as the latest movie to defy film stereotypes of lower castes as voiceless victims by dignifying their lives and portraying them as people with agency.
The reason these injustices happen to people who are vulnerable is because we don't raise our voices, said director T.J. Gnanavel, 42.
We wanted it to be that voice. I wanted to say that the silence of the society is more brutal than police brutality, he told AFP.
K. Chandru, the lawyer who inspired the role played by Tamil superstar Suriya, went on to become a judge and says young Indians tell him they were ignorant of such tribal groups and the abuse they face.
Everybody wants to know what we can do for them... That's the greatest victory of this film, said the now-retired 70-year-old.
Tamil Nadu state's Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said the movie made his heart heavy and announced measures to support tribespeople with access to welfare, drinking water and electricity.
But after an association representing the Vanniyar caste complained the film portrayed them in a bad light, a local politician offered 100,000 rupees ($1,300) to anyone who physically attacked Suriya.
Armed police were deployed to protect the star's home, amid an outpouring of support for him on social media.
The success of Jai Bhim highlights the rise of such films in Kollywood.
Koozhangal, a Tamil film internationally known as Pebbles about an alcoholic father and his son, tackles issues of poverty and patriarchy. It has been selected as India's entry for best international feature at next year's Oscars.
- 'An awakening' -
India has about 200 million Dalits -- once known as the untouchables and the lowest group in the caste system -- and more than 100 million also marginalised tribespeople.
But their life stories are rarely told and India's prolific film industry generally favours bankable action-packed song-and-dance extravaganzas.
When lower castes are depicted in Bollywood, they fall into familiar roles of oppressed characters in need of upper-caste saviours, said filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan, whose directorial debut Masaan won two awards at the 2015 Cannes film festival.
Ghaywan, a Dalit director in Bollywood, said that in contrast, Kollywood stories were coming from authenticity.
The characters are humanised. They are not just subjects of atrocity.
According to film historian S. Theodore Baskaran, right-wing politics under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have helped fuel such movies, along with growing political awareness and education among Dalits in Tamil Nadu.
Jai Bhim -- as well as box office hits by Dalit Tamil directors Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj -- are part of the beginning of an awakening in Indian cinema, Baskaran added.
- 'Telling my truth' -
Such subjects are also gaining cinematic currency in other Indian languages, including Marathi spoken in Bollywood's home state Maharashtra.
Marathi filmmaker Nagraj Manjule released his first short Pistulya in 2009 about a low-caste boy who wants to go to school, and spoke about his Dalit background in interviews.
But both his own brother and a close upper-caste friend warned him to avoid the subject for fear of ostracism.
Some Dalits in the industry hide their caste, he added, even changing their surnames.
I decided that no matter what happens, I have to tell about my reality, my truth, Manjule said.
His second feature, Sairat, about young lovers from different castes, became Marathi cinema's highest-grossing movie when it was released in 2016.
We've always been among the crowd, not on stage or the big screen, he added. So when Dalits see someone from their community and background telling their stories, they feel proud.