Cinemaazi pays tribute to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary

On the occassion of #AmbedkarJayanti2021 Cinemaazi pays tribute to the most important political figure of independent India, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar whose life and work continue to inspire anti-caste movements across the world.

Like all significant political figures, there have been several film adaptations of Dr Ambedkar's life, both fiction and non-fiction. We can look back to A V Bhashyam's Films Division documentary Babasaheb Ambedkar (1981), which combined the typical style of the Government documentary with an experimental flair. Basavaraj Kestur's 1991 Kannada film Balaka Ambedkar, Bharath Parepalli's Telugu film Dr Ambedkar (1992) and Shashikant Nalawade's Marathi language Yugpurush Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (1993) were also made. The most famous of the adaptations is of course Jabbar Patel's National Award winning Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000) which had Malayalam superstar Mammootty essaying the legendary activist. Jabbar Patel has recalled about his apprehensions regarding the scenes depicting the ideological divide between Dr Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, but he was aided by Asha Parekh in getting the film cleared. Here's to hoping we see more adaptations of Ambedkar and other anti-caste activists in the future. 

Image courtesy: DNA India.