Documentary Film Review “Castegate: The Untold Story” The smothering of truth, the ugly politics of discrimination, and those standing up for what’s right to expose it
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
To be accused. The last thing we wish for is to be judged harshly. We all know what it is to be human, to be fallible, to make mistakes, and to understand there are lessons to be learned from it all. In the United States, there is the consistent evidence of the melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, and associated practices it allows for and, at least should, cherish via the freedoms of expression we are supposed to be about. However, what happens when that freedom gets unduly attacked, and a community is suddenly upended?
It is June of 2020, San Francisco, CA and the California Civil Rights Dept., (aka: CRD) files a lawsuit against the company Cisco Systems and two of its top people, Sundar Iyer and Ramana Rompella. The alleged crime? Caste discrimination. It becomes the very first example of State-sponsored casteism in America. But, what was ACTUALLY happening? What ensued shines an all-too-revealing light on everything OTHER than true justice.
Next, my Mind:
This critic has more than once stated feelings about how documentary films can be a slippery slope, as so many factors play into what I consider worthwhile content to be explored and expanded upon vs. feeling like it simply doesn’t engage or remotely promote anything of genuine interest that will grab a wider and, in this case, non-South Asian audience. Here’s a transparent thought I have when it comes to this 90-minute project from director Vikram Mishra, producer Ravi Madhabhushi, and executive producer Prof. Ravi Rajan that I had first screened as part of the 2025 Indica Dallas Film Utsav Film Festival…I very much felt the latter. So, when the opportunity was presented to me to re-watch the film for the sake of an actual, fully processed review, I had my hesitations. Thankfully, and with equal transparency, I can say one thing to officially begin this article…I am SO grateful this chance emerged, because my opinion is completely altered.
Nothing hits home more often than real life, and when there is such a jarring illustration of conspicuous injustice, vilification of a specific minority, proven campaigns of manufactured hate, and complete neglect of actual facts being presented, it all warrants exposure in order that we be made aware that this is what is happening in a country of (supposed) liberation we laud so highly. Focused on public and legislative efforts by multiple entities to injudiciously and flat out wrongly malign two men accused of caste discrimination by a co-worker who claimed abuse and how it ended up impacting the entirety of the Indian-American/Hindu-American community, the film is a candidly raw portrait of the whole affair, executed in a manner that is meant to give voice to those never actually given the chance to speak out before when it comes to this case as well as to declare the unheard, never investigated and/or disclosed facts about it.
While this may be centered on the South Asian sector of the American populace, make NO mistake that this film addresses even larger and more wide-ranging issues of polarization, prejudice, political maneuvering, and unsettledness that this country is facing, hence speaking to these elements in a way that this critic very much hopes shakes every viewer to the core, prompting the kind of necessary discussions and then, one hopes, actions to see things like what is displayed here to NOT continue to occur. It paints a picture of one individual’s claims of discrimination not just CAUSE even more tension for others immediately around him, but then snowball into the world at large that not only reveals shaming, bogus accusations, and the targeting of others by said person, but also the severe lack of integrity by the organizations they drew into this, like the CRD as well as Equality Labs, who showcased agenda-driven motivations in all possible ways.
The sheer propagation of misguided, politically infused tactics to degrade an entire group of people, much less then turning it into an additionally and radically flowed argument about race, nationalism, and descent, leads to raking true innocents over the coals, making them scapegoats, while suppressing the precise TRUTHS that needed to be told. Stereotyping, Hindu-phobia, abject misconceptions about religious belief and caste, plus a host of other hostile ideas perpetrated out of ignorance of evidence, manipulative surveys, distortions of truth, altering the narrative, defactualization of history itself, the appropriation of identity for unjust gains, and, disturbingly, a litany of other maliciously-inbued acts, declarations, and blatant mistruths that only served to cause a building concern that the actual justness would ever be acheived.
Interviews, conducted with a host of individuals who were ultimately involved, including engineers, co-workers, journalists, lawyers, professors, coalition/organization members, and more, all bring the actuality of this entire series of events and ensuing circumstances to vivid, fact-based, research-based, EVIDENCE-based life, far beyond just being a situation of “he said/she-said”, “two sides to every story”, but rather a blunt force illustration of undue disservice, violation, infringement, and legal malpractice levied against one group of people without, it turns out, any genuine cause. I found myself appreciative of these individual’s willingness to be up front and forthright, of course starting with the primaries Iyer and Rompella, then with testimony from Manali H, U.K., Dr. Kollivakkram Raghavan, Sudha Jagannathan, Pushpita Prasad, Ravi Kapur, Prakash Shah, Nikunj Trivedi, Suhag Shukla, Richa Gautam, Samir Kabra, Sandeep Dedage, and others leading the way to expose all the elements in play.
By the time you arrive at the film’s finale, it immediately manifests into a highly bittersweet set of realities that come from the CDR taking 3 years to finally drop the case, but at what cost to all who got themselves and those associated with them dragged through the muck and mire of such overt madness and outrage?? So, in total, “Castegate: The Untold Story” paints an unflinching image of exercises in complete contradictions, the censorship of key voices representing the truth, a single word becoming unduly weaponized against a whole community, and the smokescreen of intolerance and propaganda utterly defacing the facts, all attempting to hide behind a facade of “justice and legality”…..until those afflicted stood up and fought back. May it be an example of how much more we need to pay attention to not only WHAT is actually on trial….but WHO. In this, may authentic justice prevail while hate, prejudice, and polarization, ideally, get eliminated.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
