Sometimes, Anger is the Answer: Geeli Puchhi and the Place of Dalit Rage

Abstract

This essay explores the affective and spatial relations shaping the cinematic world of the film Geeli Pucchi, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan for the Ajeeb Dastaans anthology on Netflix. I analyze the spatial arrangements and affective economies moving the characters Priya Sharma and Bharti Mondal toward and away from each other. I aim to speak about how rage plays a role in how Bharti negotiates her relationship with Priya, which involves how her righteous rage helps her (a) stand up for herself, (b) have a more progressive imagination and desire friendship/relationship rebelliously (c) recognize how she has to fight for herself versus fighting for Priya’s entitled, caste-enclosed demands of her. This essay is written in solidarity with all those raging Dalit queer folks and women, who generate their rage against the savarna capitalist machine. I will also note how Dalit rage becomes a part of a rebellious mode of and a liberatory vision of life itself which also constitutes of acts of looking out for oneself and one’s community, making one’s place in the world more livable, and pursuing joy in a difficult world, where raging does not always translate to, even as it includes, scenes of visible anger.

Keywords:

• Dalit political theory
• Dalit literature on rage
• self-assertion
• savarna savior
• space
• affect
• place
• representation
• chronotopes
• emotions
• anger
• rage
• feminist rage
• India

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Prerna Subramanian

Prerna Subramanian PhD (they/she) is an educator, content writer and labor organizer. Outside academia and movement spaces, they can be found making memes around abolition, kpop and queer kinships. They currently work as an Assistant Professor in the Jindal Global Law School.