Think of the frothy moralistic flummery to which Ghasiram treats his two devout visitors – one of them a recently widowed young man. Ray’s critique proves all the more devastating because of the extraordinary economy of expression that he brings into play. Films built around far less astringent critiques of Indian society have been judged guilty: of lighting the fuse for an all-out assault on the Bharatiya way of life, among other things. The proud Hindutva warrior-turned-film critic is dead right: Sadgati the movie is indeed a searing indictment of the version of Hinduism he feels called upon to passionately defend. It is impossible to emerge from a viewing of Sadgati except feeling numbed, gutted. Recall the shots leading up to that final ‘deliverance’: the portly, barebodied priest chuffing, puffing as he drags the lassoed Dukhi heavily across a wide, open, slushy field heaving Dukhi over the steep slope to send him crashing to his final ‘resting place’ the sinister half-light draping this macabre deliverance, so that the viewer never knows if it is daybreak or the day’s end (though a single crowing cock suggests dawn may be approaching) the sky beginning to clear up – approvingly? – even as the priest trudges back home, weary but contented – because his job is done. As for Doordarshan producing another Sadgati –like film in 2021, well, if wishes were horses…įor, recall the episode in which Ghasiram, the village priest, delivers Dukhi the chamar’s corpse to the landfill outside the village, among putrefying animal carcasses and sewer sludge. We would be deluding ourselves if we were to believe that a film like Sadgati could hope to show in theatres across the country today. The fact is, the margins have become so bloated as to squeeze out altogether any space in the middle. Even now, some of us make the mistake of thinking that such views reside in the margins of public opinion. The comments shine a light on an ascendant trend in India’s cultural politics today.