Made In Heaven creators Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Neeraj Ghaywan, and Alankrita Shrivastava deny claims of Dalit author Yashica Dutt of using her work.
The second season of Made In Heaven, the wedding drama has been released on Prime Video and is garnering immense love from the audience. Recently, one of the episodes of the show got into a controversy as Dalit author Yashica Dutt slammed the makers for using her life story and work without due credit. However, now, the makers have released a statement declining the claims made by the author.
The episode from Made In Heaven that is questioned (Episode 5) is titled The Heart Skipped a Beat and is directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and stars Radhika Apte as the bride, a Dalit author who is credited with coining the phrase ‘coming out as Dalit’ which is actually the title of Yashica Dutt’s book. Clearing the air, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, and Neeraj Ghaywan took to their social media and issued a statement.
The statement read, “We are deeply disturbed with the misleading reports and comments in the context of author Yashica Dutt claiming formal credit for her ‘contribution’ to Made in Heaven, a show set around wedding planners and remarkable brides who challenge prejudices deeply ingrained in our society. In Episode 5 – ‘The Heart Skips A Beat’, we peek into the life of Pallavi Menke a fictional character. Pallavi Menke is a Maharashtrian Ambedkarite from the Vidarbha region who studied law at Columbia University. She grew up using a caste-neutral surname and was called Pallavi Kumar. She has now reclaimed her original surname, Menke – a signifier of her true identity as a member of the Dalit community. Pallavi Menke is an academic who teaches at Columbia and is likely to be tenured as a professor.”
The statement further read, “She is a recipient of an Amnesty Award. All of this earns her the respect of her prospective in-laws, who belong to a different caste. At the same time, her in-laws think her identity as a Dalit is better brushed under the carpet. The central conflict of the episode is whether Pallavi should fight to have the wedding rituals that are a signifier of her identity, or not. None of the above is drawn from Yashica Dutt’s life or her book – ‘Coming Out As Dalit’. We categorically deny any claim that Ms. Dutt’s life or work was appropriated by us. ‘Coming out’ is a 1950’s academic LGBTQIA term that was first used by Mr. Sumit Baudh in the Indian caste identity context in 2007. He used this in an article he wrote for Tarshi. A decade later it was used by Ms. Dutt in her book. This term has since become common parlance for reclaiming caste identity.”
Further explaining the statement read, “In the episode, the character, Pallavi Menke simply uses it in this context. The character does not attribute herself and neither has she been attributed with coining this term or being the pioneer of its usage in a Dalit context. In the episode, Pallavi Menke mentions her grandmother’s back story. This narrative of cleaning toilets was included because it is a common history that came up recurrently in our research of the community. Pallavi Menke’s fictional book, “Denied” is a hat-tip to several books like Ants Among Elephants by Sujatha Gidla, Caste Matters by Suraj Yengde, Coming Out As Dalit by Yashica Dutt, and the Tarshi article by Sumit Baudh.”
Concluding the statement, the makers wrote, “We have immense respect for them and their experiences and their work that has admirably shed light on caste-based discrimination. Through his previous work and this episode, Neeraj Ghaywan has added to the discourse. We made this show with sincerity, passion, and a beating heart and are overwhelmed with the love we have received. We will continue to platform stories and voices that are truly bigger than us.”
On Monday, Dutt took to her Instagram and wrote a long note about the show, wherein she criticized the makers and also thanked them, and also requested the makers of the show to acknowledge her work and ideas that contributed to the episode.
Made In Heaven is the story of the titular wedding planning company from Delhi which is led by Tara and Karan (Sobhita Dhulipala and Arjun Mathur). The show also stars Shivani Raghuvanshi, Shashank Arora, Mona Singh, Trinetra Haldar, Jim Sarbh, and Kalki Koechlin, along with a long lineup of guest stars and has been receiving a positive response from the audience since it’s release.
Read Dalit author Yashica Dutt slams Made in Heaven for using her work ‘without permission or credit’: My name was nowhere…
