Nature and Caste in Telugu Cinema

This chapter examines the relationship between caste and land through three Telugu films: Sun’s Clan (Surya Vamsam 1998), Young Rayudu (Chinna Rayudu 1992), and Govind is for Everyone (Govindudu Andharivadele 2014). These films depict rural settings where nativity pertains to a broader, less contested concept of local identity, encompassing rural scenes, customs, practices, and locations that exemplify linguistic and cultural distinctiveness. In the Telugu and Tamil cinemas of the 1970s and 1980s, nativity is closely associated with a specific style of realist melodrama. Rural life is often portrayed through the lens of land-owning upper castes. Key questions include: What is the significance of land in a caste society? How is the caste system made invisible in cinema? How do caste subjects view the land? Does nature’s definition differ across caste contexts? What influence do dominant castes have on subservient castes’ natures? This chapter will use Mukul Sharma’s Eco-Casteism framework, termed ‘an ecological determinant of caste, rationalising and justifying the caste system through nature’ (2017). Thus, it investigates the ‘casteisation’ of nature in Telugu cinema.