Humanizing the oppressed and the search for identity And Kabali released two years after the BJP’s rule at the centre. Interestingly, Black Panther released exactly a year after Trump came to power. In Kabali, the protagonist is vocal about his Ambedkarite politics, which seems to be a very significant act at a time when Hindutva violence against Dalits has been on a rise under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP rule. While the character Black Panther could be interpreted as an allusion to the politics of the Black Panther party (though I understand that there exists a claim that the comic character first appeared a few months before the party was formed), the reference becomes even more relevant at a time when the US President Donald Trump has been openly peddling a White Supremacist position and the Black Lives Matters movement has been protesting against police killings of black people, and other issues like racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality. In the movie, Kabali is a Tamil migrant labourer in Malyasia who rises to become an influential don. From being known as an uncouth, criminalized sidekick character in popular culture, Kabali transforms into an assertive superhero. Here, the otherwise powerful white man gets to play the sidekick (a role often reserved for Afro-American actors in Hollywood) and tries to be a wannabe ally who is frequently mocked for the way he is.Ĭomparably, Ranjith's film effortlessly inverts the meaning associated with the name Kabali. Black Panther/T’Challa is the King of Wakanda, a fictitious African nation. Coogler's movie might be the first to envision an ambitious wide canvas for a black superhero.
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