For years, the mainstream media and academia in India have completely overlooked the struggles and agency of the Dalit-Bahujan people. Without the work of a few activists and intellectuals, their telling of these stories would have been absolute. Dr.Gail Omvedt and Dr . Bharat Patankar are two prominent Anti Caste activist-intellectuals who have spent their lives working against these Brahminical structures.
Dr. Gail Omvedt is an American-born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist. She is a prolific writer and has published numerous invaluable books and research papers on the anti-caste movement, on Dalit-Bahujan politics, and on women’s movements in India. She has been involved in Dalit-Bahujan and anti-caste movements, as well as environmental and farmer movements. She has also worked closely with women in rural India.
Dr. Bharat Patankar is a prominent activist and husband of Dr. Gail Omvedt. He is the co-founder and president of the Shramik Mukti Dal, a mass-based organisation fighting for the rights of farmers and Dalit-Bahujans. He is also one of the leaders of Maharashtra’s peasant movement.
This documentary biopic follows the course of Dr. Gail Omvedt’s remarkable journey to India, how she met her future husband Bharat Patankar and became one of the most revered and recognised activists and researchers of movements of Dalit-Bahujans, the environment, farmers and women, particularly in western Maharashtra. The biopic also explores the life of her husband, Bharat Patankar, the co-founder of the Shramik Mukti Dal, who has been working in and leading numerous peasant, environmental and anti-caste movements for the last 40 years.
Through interviews and personal testimonials “Gail and Bharat The Story of Organic Intellectuals” captures the incredible lives of these “organic intellectuals” from their home in a small village in
Maharashtra.
Direction and Camera – Somnath Waghmare
Editor- Deepu ( Pardeep KP)
Promo Editor – Shreemith N