Social media has once again been clogged with turmoil over the casteism debate. Neeraj Panday’s crime thriller Ghooskhor Pandat has come under fire (irony: Neeraj Panday is himself a Brahmin). Petitions have been filed that designate the film’s title as offensive to the community.
However, here is a perspective that we could be missing out on, when you look at a title, surname, or a person, and the first thing that hits you is the ‘caste,’ ‘religion,’ and other ‘classifications,’ have you ever thought that the actual discriminator could be you? We talk about Brahmins, and we don’t realise that the Brahmins have classifications within their own community—the hierarchy becomes an undeniable ladder to cross—and in the middle of this chaos, it becomes radical not to identify these classifications and to become indifferent to the societal discriminations that are forcefully imposed.
Because then, you apparently don’t give in to any kind of propaganda or politics of it. While everything is political, there is polarity everywhere as well—the algorithms have deepened divisions, and it has encroached on art in ways that now nothing really has a significant meaning.
The boycott backlash we see against Ghooskhor Pandat is unfortunate and a clear case of misinterpretation. There could be another interpretation of ‘pandat’ too—a scholar. I realised that it was about ‘caste’ because of the turmoil on X. I never thought of caste and class in the first place—rather had a keen heart waiting for it to unfold on the screen with Manoj Bajpayee leading the story of a corrupt cop who ends up in a web of crime, as he shows mercy to an injured girl. But somewhere it took a different turn, it seems—with the internet again getting divided over caste and religion in 2026.
But because it took a turn, and the Brahmin community pulled out in rage, we must understand that, in the ‘system’ we live in, corruption doesn’t slide in by recognising one’s background; all remains in the conscience. An X user writes, “To ghooskhor pandat hota ni h kya…Have you never seen any Brahmin taking a bribe?” Apparently, what we all should realise.
However, it’s just the teaser we have watched so far—yet to witness the entire story, its background, and where it shall land in the end. Before we head for classifications, pull an outrage, react—maybe, just maybe we could take a step back, analyse the situation and respond? I read somewhere, “You don’t see the world as it is, you see it as you are.” However, this is not a conclusion or an inference, but a perspective.
Watch the teaser here:
(I come from a Bengali Brahmin family.)
