Untouchable: Laughing Out Caste w/ Manjeet Sarkar

Le lundi 14 avril 2025, à 18h00.

Lien vers l'événement Permalien sur Résistance Montréal

Concordia University, EV building, Room EV 1.605 (métro Guy)

Untouchable: Laughing Out Caste – Dalit History Month, film screening

It is our pleasure to invite you to the screening of the full length documentary, Untouchable: Laughing Out Caste, in the presence of the co-director and internationally renowned comedian, Manjeet Sarkar!

Date: 14th April, 6pm

Location: 1515 Ste Catherine St. (EV 1.605) - Concordia University

The film addresses, in an honest and biting comedic way, the abject hierarchical caste system that stratifies social groups of people and humiliates those at the bottom of it. Dalits are at the bottom of the bottom of this social hierarchy, and the Dalit History Month highlights this historical injustice and ongoing discrimination. It also empowers people to celebrate the rich cultures and histories of Dalit resistance, and to claim their/our voices in the face of oppression.

The event will take place on the evening of April 14th, the birthdate of Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution and one of the most well known leaders of the Dalit movement.

—----------

About the film and the co-director:

Manjeet Sarkar is an internationally acclaimed stand-up comedian who has been performing for 7 years. He has done six national tours in India of his solo show ‘Untouchable’, performed at the United Nations, and is currently on a world tour.

Co-directed by Mike Noone, ‘Untouchable: Laughing Out Caste’ is Sarkar’s first documentary that covers his groundbreaking journey across India and now the world, capturing his unique perspective on rural and urban life, caste, and class. ‘Untouchable: Laughing Out Caste’ highlights the universality of issues faced by marginalised communities and the transformative power of artistic expression. The film is currently being test screened for select audiences across the world.

Over the last years, widespread advocacy has resulted in caste discrimination being recognized and included as a protected category in cities such as Seattle and at various institutions in Ontario and Vancouver. The extensive anti-caste work brings to fore the discrimination within South Asian society, and exposes the treachery of the Hindu supremacy or Hindutva project that seeks to portray Hindus as a homogenous whole to then divide Hindus and Muslims in India [1]. The ongoing struggle against the discriminations, casteist-lynching, untouchability and humiliations experienced by oppressed caste peoples in India and globally highlight how Hinduism is not a monolithic term and that there is supremacist oppression faced by Dalits.

It is therefore of utmost importance that we fight against caste supremacy as we oppose the Hindutva ideology.

Organized by

South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)

Endorsed by

SADAN - South Asian Dalit and Adivasi Network

Check out our events from Dalit History Month 2024 when we screened two films: https://www.facebook.com/events/2069246950118133/

—---

SADAC (South Asian Diaspora Action Collective) is a grassroots group based in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal) who act in solidarity with the struggles of various oppressed groups, activists, movements and peoples in the sub-continent and here in our communities. Our work is rooted in the fight for a secular South Asia, free of poverty, casteism, the suppression of indigenous people’s rights, and other social injustices. We also aim to combat the spread and rise of far-right, fascist ideology in South-Asia and here in Canada, and connect the fight against Hindutva ideology with the fight against fascism in Canada and globally. We are engaged with the South-Asian diasporic community in Montreal on various issues including housing, labour, migrant and other related issues.

[1] Badri Raina, “Caste is the Achilles Heel of Hindutva Politics. The Wire, Feb 2023. https://thewire.in/.../caste-is-the-achilles-heel-of