What led to a film on Gail Omvedt: ‘Dalit activists have always been ignored by cinema’

For his latest documentary, filmmaker Somnath Waghmare turned to a seminal figure in Dalit scholarship: Gail Omvedt. Through Gail & Bharat, Waghmare pays tribute to the America-born, naturalised Indian sociologist who wrote several important books and papers on anti-caste movements, Dalit history and gender.

Her works include We Will Smash This Prison!: Indian Women in Struggle, Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India and Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals.

Waghmare’s 80-minute documentary looks at Omvedt’s background, her journey from America to India and her involvement with anti-caste studies as well as protest movements. Following her dissertation Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973, Omvedt moved to India, marrying the activist Bharat Patankar.

Until her death in 2021, Omvedt lived with Patankar in Kasegaon village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. Waghmare first ran into Omvedt and Patankar in Kasegaon when he was a student.

“I am originally from Malewadi in Sangli district, and my village and Kasegaon are just 20 km apart,” Waghmare told Scroll. “When I went to Islampur for a Bachelor in Arts degree course, I started attending public meetings organised by Bharat and Gail. They were like idols for me during my student years.”

Waghmare later met Omvedt at his graduation ceremony. “I also saw her at public meetings in...

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