Chaityabhumi

An American scholar, Gail, enters India in the 1970s. Shocked by its caste system, she dedicates her life to the Dalit rights movement and marries anti-caste advocate Bharat. This film intimately follows their final impactful years.

In 1818, around five hundred Mahar (Dalit) soldiers who were part of the British army defeated their Peshwa oppressors, despite being largely outnumbered in battle. The Battle of Bhima Koregaon is commemorated on the first of January every year, when two million people gather at the site of this particular victory against Brahminical rule. The annual pilgrimage is ignored by national and local media, as India's ruling castes reinforce systemic caste-based discrimination by either erasing this history or deeming it antinational. This documentary by Somnath Waghmare, a young Dalit filmmaker, tells the story of Bhima Koregaon and of its relevance to contemporary Dalit issues and politics.