Somnath Waghmare is an Indian documentary filmmaker based in the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. His most prominent and most recent film, '' Battle of Bhima Koregaon,'' was critically received and screened in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and abroad. Till now, all his films have been documentary films and they have dealt with various social issues like the persecution of

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

and

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

assertion in Maharashtra. He made his directorial debut with the short documentary feature ''I Am Not a Witch'' (2017). His upcoming films are ''Chaityabhoomi'' (which is the resting place of

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

and is a symbol and place of celebration of Buddhist identity) and ''Gail and Bharat.''

Early life and education

Somnath was born in Malewadi, a small village in Sangli district in Maharashtra. He completed his graduation in sociology from KBP college in the town of Islampur and joined

Savitribai Phule Pune University Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

for his post-graduate studies in Media and Communication Studies. After completing his post-graduate studies, Somnath worked for two years as a contract employee at the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

before joining the

Tata Institute of Social Sciences Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is a multi-campus public research university in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's oldest institute for professional social work education and was founded in 1936 in then Bombay Presidency of British India as ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

for his M.Phil degree and then later Ph.D. in Social Sciences.

Work

Somnath has strong interests in the caste and cultural politics of Maharashtra. Both of his documentaries are focused on documentation and depiction of the political and social assertion by Dalits. He is also active in the anti-caste Phule-Ambedkarite movement of the state and has given several talks on caste in cinema, including at the

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) is a film and television institute located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Named after Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the institute provides higher and professional education and technical expe ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Waghmare's debut film ''I Am Not A Witch'' was a short documentary feature based on the persecution of marginalized women in Maharashtra. His second and most famous film '' Battle of Bhima Koregaon'' received was widely acclaimed. The film was screened at multiple locations in India and also in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

at the

Dalit Film and Cultural Festival Dalit Film and Cultural festival (DALIFF) is an international Film festival dedicated to Dalit-Bahujan cinema. This festival gives platform to content from dalit issues victimised by caste discrimination and often ignored by mainstream. First Dalit ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, alongside the works of filmmakers such as

Pa. Ranjith Pa. Ranjith is an Indian film director and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2012 romantic comedy ''Attakathi'', before earning unanimously positive reviews for his second film, the politi ...

and

Nagraj Manjule Nagraj Popatrao Manjule (Marathi pronunciation: aɡɾaːd͡ʒ maɲd͡ʒuɭeː born 24 August 1978) is an Indian film director, actor, producer, scriptwriter, poet, screenwriter, filmmaker and he works in the Marathi Cinema, best known for his ...

. Waghmare is currently working on his third documentary film, ''Gail and Bharat'', about Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar, two of the most distinguished activists and researchers of Dalit- Bahujan movements in the country. In 2020, Waghmare and Smita Rajmane received a grant Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art for their project ‘The Ambedkar Age Digital Bookmobile’.

Filmography

As director

External links

Battle of Bhima Koregaon on YouTube

Gail and Bharat on YouTube

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waghmare, Somnath Living people Indian documentary filmmakers People from Maharashtra Year of birth missing (living people)