ABSTRACT
This chapter will compare the representation of nature in Bimal Roy’s Hindi film Sujata (1959) and Gogu Shyamala’s Telugu short story ‘A Beauteous Light’ translated in English (2012). Both texts could not be more different at first glance: one of the texts is a popular film produced after independence displaying some optimism that caste relations can be improved if upper castes have a Gandhian change of heart and follow the rules of Nehruvian modernity and Ambedkarite inter-caste marriage and the other text is a short story by the Telugu Dalit writer Gogu Shyamala from her collection, Father May Be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket but … (New Delhi: Navayana, 2012), which critiques caste fundamentally from a Dalit standpoint. Both texts are different in medium, style, and reach; however, they also exhibit some remarkable similarities, and this chapter argues that the short story can be read as a parody of the film. Comparative readings can shed a different light on texts; in this case, a comparative analysis of the short story and the film casts a harsh spotlight on the upper-caste slant of the film. This reading also emphasises that Sujata can offer a cautionary tale about the fact that the caste of nature will be aligned with upper-caste interests as long as upper castes have the power to dictate how nature is perceived and celebrated.
