Prominent writers, journalists, and research scholars issued a statement in support of Dalit scholar Yashica Dutt amidst controversy about the Amazon Prime series Made in Heaven. Signed by over 400 people, the statement calls for attributing Yashica due credit for her likeness being used in the episode titled ‘The Heart Skipped a Beat’, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. “We demand that the producers of the show compensate her for image rights according to market rates, and pay her damages for the weeks-long campaign of hate she has endured at their behest,” read the statement.
The episode in question features a Dalit woman named Pallavi Menke (played by Radhika Apte), an author and scholar at Columbia University, who speaks about her caste oppression. In the show, Menke is also an author of a book titled ‘Denied’, in which she uses the term ‘coming out’, which also happens to be the title of Yashica’s book. Yashica was also a student at Columbia University and ‘coming out’ is a usage she says to have popularised with regard to caste. However, she was not credited at the end of the episode, and she issued a statement on her social media profiles and demanded that due credit be given to her. After she issued her statement, Neeraj credited her on his social media post, but no mention was inserted in the episode credit.
The statement in support of Yashica pointed out that she was subjected to social media backlash after she spoke about this. “Dutt has been subjected to an increasingly vicious hate campaign on social media, driven at least in part by the vast public relations machinery available at the disposal of the show's producers. In an alarming and shameful turn of events, a few Dalit and lower-caste intellectuals and activists have amplified the ongoing hate campaign. Dutt has been forced to take on this hate campaign largely on her own, surely an unprecedented phenomenon for any writer, let alone a Dalit woman writer. There has been little support from Dalit leaders and intellectuals and we urge more community leaders, activists, academics, and intellectuals to speak out in her support,” the statement read. The statement further added that Neeraj Ghaywan must condemn the hatred that is being directed at Yashica.
The statement also condemned filmmaker Anurag Kahshyap’s comments that vilified Yashica. “ Why is it that Kashyap - who has nothing to do with the literary establishment or the show under scrutiny - would take it upon himself to expressly malign any Dalit writer? He seems to be clueless about the fact that Dutt’s contribution is a question of furthering Dalit culture in new and pioneering directions, not the latest Page 3 gossip to have an opinion on. Kashyap takes great pains to explain why she doesn’t deserve credit, going to the mind-boggling extent of comparing Dutt to mafia criminals who weren’t credited in a film of his. There could be no explanation for such a cruel intervention except for the brute arrogance that comes from success in some weak personalities, with Kashyap even justifying his shocking usurper tactics by claiming a close association with Ghaywan,” it noted.
The statement added that Yashica is a victim of “virtual lynching”. “In our view, Dutt is the victim of an ongoing caste atrocity, a virtual lynching unfolding in public view. We condemn the actions of the Made in Heaven producers and directors, and those participating in the hate campaign against Dutt. Her contribution to Dalit Literature through her book and by coining the phrase "Coming Out as Dalit" is irrefutable, as is her likeness to the character in the show. We believe Dutt would be perfectly entitled to seek damages and compensation through legal action. It is to her credit that she has refrained from doing so yet,” the statement said.