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Gail and Bharat
A Living History of Anti-Caste Activism and Scholarship
Speakers
80 minutes | English & Marathi with English subtitles | India | 2025
Scholarship and resistance bridged by love.
A documentary that traces the shared journey of US-born Indian sociologist and Dalit rights activist Dr. Gail Omvedt and activist-intellectual Dr. Bharat Patankar, this film situates their personal story within the larger arc of India’s socio-political movements. Charting Omvedt’s path from America to western Maharashtra, her deep engagement with Dalit-Bahujan politics, and a life of thought and action shaped alongside Patankar, Gail & Bharat brings out the personal in the political.
Set largely in Kasegaon, where the couple lived and worked for decades, the film foregrounds voices and struggles long ignored by mainstream media and academia. It reflects Omvedt’s seminal contributions to anti-caste studies and her role in building global intellectual conversations around Phule and Ambedkar, while also capturing Patankar’s grassroots leadership through movements for land, water, and dignity. Tender, political, and quietly moving, the documentary preserves the legacy of two organic intellectuals whose lives blurred the boundaries between scholarship, activism, and everyday care.
The screening will be followed by a conversation between filmmaker Somnath Waghmare and investigative journalist Sudipto Mondal, and will subsequently conclude with a Q&A with the audience.
In collaboration with:
Speakers
Somnath Waghmare
Somnath Waghmare is a Mumbai-based Dalit-Buddhist documentary filmmaker and researcher hailing from rural Western Maharashtra. He completed his M.Phil from TISS Mumbai and a Master’s in Media and Communication from Savitribai Phule Pune University. Working with limited resources and social capital, he has created acclaimed films on caste, memory, and resistance, such as I Am Not a Witch (2015), The Battle of Bhima Koregaon (2017) Memories of Mangaon (2022), and There is No Caste Discrimination in IITs? (2023), Mahaupasak – Yashwant Painter (2025) and Gail & Bharat( 2025). His last documentary Chaityabhumi (2024) presented by Pa. Ranjith released on MUBI. His films have screened internationally, including at LSE, Oxford University,Columbia University Princeton University, Heidelberg University, Laiden University and other public spaces in India and abroad. He is the founder of Begampura Production and co-founder of the Ambedkar Age Digital Bookmobile.
Sudipto Mondal
Sudipto Mondal is a Bengaluru-based investigative journalist and serves as Executive Editor at The News Minute. With nearly two decades of reporting experience, his work has consistently examined caste, communalism, and corruption in India. He has written for The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Print, The News Minute, and Newslaundry. Known for his rigorous field reporting and long-form investigations, Mondal’s journalism foregrounds structural inequities and the realities of marginalised communities, contributing to wider public conversations on democracy, accountability, and social justice.
