I would like to thank the team of Paatal Lok for such a bold and dark series. But it boils a few thoughts in me.
Are all communities and linguistic or religious group at par on the parameter of social status/constructs? Do the directors and producers have cognizance of the gravity of the oppression the Nepali-speaking Gorkha people have been at the receiving end of? From forceful eviction of families from their homes to subjugation and mental and physical harassment of the children for belonging to a certain linguistic group.
Is the concept of positive discrimination incorporated in the constitution of the country unduly? Should there be no sensitivity while measuring all communities equally in the garb of contextualization for a piece of art when the communities concerned might have lived or been forced to live a different reality and have the subsequent stigma?
Do we have any responsibility towards the most oppressed and the vulnerable? Is artistic freedom an absolute one that doesn’t require sensitivity while dealing with communities that have been still living in the fear of dark days with many instances of humiliation they face.
If the mainstream doesn’t have cognizance of our reality, then they should rather listen than dismissing us for our concern.
The point essentially is that we have all the right to be heard and be positively discriminated against on such shows, rather than being depicted with the same slurs we have been hearing every other day in different forms.
And we know it’s a depiction of reality, we know. We are very grateful to the show for bringing our reality on screen. But if you justify it to be fit for viewership with your subjective understanding of the scene, then you must listen to our rather general feelings that we feel when we watch the different scenes of generalization targetted towards the different communities.
If say that the stereotyping of Muslim and Bengali as well as Nepali has been shown for contextualization and depicts reality, then why did the director/creator choose to explicitly show the disapproval/disdain for such stereotyping immediately in the scene for all communities but the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community?
How, in episode 5, the character Ansari gives a counter-argument to his officer for doubting the loyalty and integrity of a Muslim man in the police force is interesting. The dialogue implies that though it might be the fault of someone else for failure in the job of police but Muslim man in uniform would be blamed, and there is a sudden change in the vibe of the scene, giving depth to his words.
The scene was strong enough to roll down tears in the eyes of the viewers and lead them to introspect their actions. We should credit the creators of the show for constructing the scene that well.
Another example could be seen in episode 8 when the lady generalizes the Bengali community with the statement “they add mustard oil on every cuisine”, and the immediate response comes from the husband implying, though it’s Kolkata and run by Bengali people, but the restaurant serves Chinese cuisine. The husband leaving the dinner table further implies his annoyance at the generalization.
Now, imagine the scene in episode two: a police offer while interrogating a suspect for a murder, passes the statement “you Nepali whore; you sleep with foreigners”, a common stereotype in any street of the country, but no counter-argument involving the word ‘Nepali’ is presented throughout the show. There is no scene throughout the series to generate empathy from viewers on the generalization of Nepali-speaking Gorkha community.
Though the character M. Lyngdoh or Cheeni shows the plight of the queer community, is there anything in the series that makes viewers realize or leave a point to introspect on how a woman feels when faced with that slur, which is a very common reality for every Nepali/northeasters?
If the show would have spared one minute to depict the victim’s perspective as it does in case of every other community concerned, we wouldn’t have been discussing it today. So don’t you still see the partiality in the show? It might be an eye-opener on how we treat Dalits or Muslims, but not for the treatment meted to the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community.
Any layperson who have faced such slurs or discrimination to the extent of having a deep impact on them could sense that the slur against the Nepali woman was just let to pass, and was another instance of normalizing the stereotype.
And, yes if you stereotype the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community but still forget to show how a Nepali person feels because of that slur, we don’t see any intention of yours other than normalizing stereotype against the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community. But we would like to congratulate you for rightly showing the struggles of a religious minority and a community from lower strata of caste pyramid for dignity
And For The Justification Floating Around Social Media…
The justification for this normalization of stereotype cannot be absolute freedom for artistic contextualization or explanations, like such contextualization is done in the show regarding other communities too. The creator forgot, or I should say willfully ignored (as we don’t matter to them in terms of the market), to contextualize a Nepali woman’s real-life struggle for dignity when she is hurled at with such slurs, sexist remarks everyday.
Since the creators forgot it in the show, we are bound to express our feelings, and yet you dare to dismiss it.
As a rare opportunity for us, we were portrayed for a few seconds in such an artistic gem, but it has just scratched our wound, and with the pain which has been existing for decades, we believe that we have been used for your pursuit of artistic excellence, and of course, money.
I’m not so-called “offense-taking snowflake”, but another thorn-ridden Gorkha. Prime Video showered petals on us, but I rather feel pained. With the targeted onslaught on internet to supress the voice of people who are hurt, it is apparent that only the biggies in arts have the freedom to portray reality but we cant portray the reality of our shredded basic human dignity.
Apparently only the biggies in arts have the freedom to portray reality, but we cant portray the reality of our shredded basic human dignity.
If you cant empathize with our concern then the whole Paatal Lok series has gone to waste; you can’t empathize with the characters in the show and their struggle for living a dignified life.
Would you still measure how humiliated we are with a lens of your perceived imagination about the arts?
If removing those few seconds would flop your show in the market, then yes, you are monetizing on our plight in the garb of art.