"Yes Sir!" Short Film Screening

The Casteless Caucus at HKS is hosting a screening of the award-winning short film, "Yes Sir!", followed by a discussion with director Mudit Singhal and writer Ajay Navaria.

"Yes Sir!" is based on a short story by Ajay Navaria depicting how, in a government office in India, a dominant-caste employee confronts his own caste biases when his superior is an officer from an oppressed caste.

Director's statement:

"Dr BR Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution, said: 'Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from commingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of mind. The destruction of caste does not therefore mean the destruction of a physical barrier. It means a notional change.' It is this notion of caste that prevails in India (and the subcontinent) even today, and we remain caged inside it. 'Yes Sir!' is a story of how a notional change can still happen, albeit only slightly. The attempt is to show this in a lighter vein, as it is a story where the typical roles of an officer and a peon are reversed—a Brahmin serving as a peon to a Dalit, a senior officer at a government undertaking."

The event is intended for both individuals with no prior knowledge of the caste system and allies of the anti-caste movement.