RECASTING SELVES

Set at CREST (the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation) in Kozhikode, the film documents the ‘soft skills’ training of Dalit and Adivasi post-graduate students in a nurturing campus environment as preparation for their employment in the new Indian economy. But how politicised or politically aware is the 'recast self'? Matters come to a climax when the CREST students research and select the theme of the semester ending play. Will they choose to do a play that exposes caste discrimination around Rohit Vemula's suicide? Or will they select one that expresses their fears about ‘Bengali’ migration to Kerala?

• Lalit VachaniDirector