India’s persistent discomfort with the caste question is evident in the limited number of films that address it. This reluctance to engage with conversations around caste has been highlighted by the controversy surrounding two recent Hindi films, Phule (2025) and Santosh (2024). The state-imposed restrictions on these works reveal a deep-seated unease with directly confronting caste oppression. By tracing the history of caste marginalisation in mainstream Hindi cinema and contrasting it with recent films that address caste and gender, this article argues that cultural........

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