Dalan:52 windows on Nepal's dalits
AVASH KARMACHARYA
KATHMANDU, July 3: “They (Maoists) thought that they were the only ones who were concerned about the issues of Dalits. They thought it was only them to raise voices to fight for their rights,” began Nabin Subba, director of the widely acclaimed tele-serial “Dalan” that has now concluded after screening all of its 52 episodes.
To do a tele-serial on those very people who are tagged as exploited and marginalized minorities by the state, director Nabin Subba and producer Purna Singh Baraili fought hard to bring it onscreen.
“I still don’t think that a film can bring any major revolution in the society and reform its practices. If it could, then there are so many films on Che Guevara which could’ve caused big revolutions around the world,” Subba explained and added, “However, after Dalan, I’ve realized that if not for any major outcomes, movies can at least become a strong medium to create a platform for discussions on those issues that look otherwise minor but are deeply rooted in our society.”
The example of the ever growing popularity of Dalan is its 400 fan clubs in Nepal, and some in Dubai, Hong Kong, America, and India.
While dealing with the Dalits of Nepal, “Dalan” went back to the Nepali year 2007, or 1950 AD, and retraced what Nepal’s Dalits faced till 2051 B.S. It was broadcast by Nepal Television (NTV) every Sunday at 8:30 p.m.
The journey
The Jagaran Media Center had an idea to come up with a documentary on Dalits. As they started working on the scripts by Ahuti (a member of Jana Morcha Party), it clicked to them that they could rather make it a fiction program and broadcast it on television. They then approached filmmaker Nabin Subba to direct the serials. Subba was least interested at the beginning because he thought no matter how strong the scripts were, it was not going to make any big difference to the society. But after repeated requests from the production team, he agreed to direct the teleserial.
“Dalan” means oppressed.
“It was important to push for a separate law in the Constitution for Dalits to enforce their rights to freedom of living. We turned the chapters of history that began from 2007 B.S., and then we started the shooting. This was the only way we could make things happen,” unveiled Subba.
In 2004 A.D. the group started shooting from the Khaula VDC (Village Development Committee) in Parbat district, where the inhabitants of minority groups are reportedly huge. However, to get permission for screening on NTV was another difficult job during the royal regime. The country was going through a heavy political turmoil with the rise in conflicts between the state and the Maoists. To get running time on NTV, the director and the producer had to coax international donors to pressurize the television authorities. And once it was done, the Maoists said they would allow the shooting only if there were no foreign investments made in the project, especially from America and India.
“Your government doesn’t own this land where you wish to shoot the film. You should’ve taken our permission because we’re the emperors here.” This was what the Maoists said when the team was about to begin the shooting in Parbat and Baglung districts, Subba revealed.
After repeated appeals for two months, the Maoists finally allowed shooting at the chosen locales provided they presented the prevailing reality of the Dalits and not spice up their lifestyle for cheap publicity.
Then journey of Dalan thus began. It was officially screened after the Maoists came to power, and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister of Information and Communication, supported its screening through NTV. However, the producer’s plea to have the runtime costs for the social serial waived was not considered.
Selecting cast and crew
Having players to enact realistically and get closer to the characters to justify their way of living was equally difficult. Because it was not a commercial teleserial, the crew decided to keep away the big names of the Nepali silver screen. They wanted real characters, and therefore, contacted the locals to play in the episodes. However, notable theater artistes like Diya Maskey, Anup Baral, and Sudarshan Thapa joined in for the social cause. As it was not any spicy movie, the cast of the serial had to live simply for months in remote villages of Nepal. Both Diya Maskey and Anup Baral lived in Parbat for three months and lived just like the locals.
Impacts of Dalan on society
As the teleserial went on air, many Nepali youths came together to discuss the discriminating orthodoxy attached to the Dalits, and how the practice of “untouchability” could be removed from the society. Soon, they started launching their own respective “Dalan Fan Club” in the country. By now, 53 districts have such clubs to raise issues of Dalits and to spread awareness in the communities.
Subba shared, “It raised the curtains from the faces of the politicians of Nepal. No matter how many times they promise to address the issues, they haven’t made any significant change so far. No wonder there are CA (Constituent Assembly) members in the parliament now to represent their Dalit communities.”
He added, “The serial has somehow built confidence in people who are called minorities. Take for example one hotel in Lalitpur, where the owners made Dalit customers wash the dishes they ate from despite them being paying customers like the rest. The local Dalan Fan Club took the initiative to have them treated equally, and today, the said hotel doesn’t practice such discrimination,” he added.
Moreover, the fan clubs are organizing various social events like blood donation campaigns, establishing libraries in remote villages of Nepal, distributing stationery to students of different communities, hosting discussions and debates, and collecting funds for development and construction works in such places where the Dalit populations are proportionately significant.
It also can’t be denied that there were some negative imprints that people took from the weekly series. As per Subba, some people in villages took the wrong message from the program, and they rather started discriminating against the community like it was shown in the episodes.
Despite the serial was made during the peak of the state-Maoist conflict, and both the state and Maoists interrupted the schedules time and again, it successfully fulfilled its aims of focusing on the Dalits’ deprivation for decades, and enabling them to speak for their rights, just like the other citizens of Nepal.
What next?
Upon completing the 52 episodes featuring the past 44 years of injustice sustained by the Dalit communities of Nepal, what next is in the offing for “Dalan”?
Subba answered, “We end the series in 2051 B.S [15 years ago]. The present generations of Dalits are directly related to the political situations of the country. Post-2051 B.S., Nepal saw major changes in its political scenarios. So, we’re planning to give it further continuation.”
Producer Baraili said he receives emails and letters requesting him to give “Dalan” a sequel, highlighting all the changes that came after 2051 B.S.
