The Actor Who Isn't Afraid To Speak Up

Kannada actor Chetan Kumar faced threats, trolling and police complaints when he spoke up about caste. But he's not giving up.

Transcript

00:00🎵

00:30I felt it my responsibility to speak out and put these issues on the main stage.

01:00And these platforms, even though there were 10, 20, 30,000 people, they would never get

01:19any kind of mainstream media attention.

01:22I started to think when I was in college that, you know,

01:51I might be the victim of institutionalized racism, but I am the beneficiary of extreme

01:57caste and patriarchal and all types of educational privilege.

02:09Just because we get more people following us, we are in no way superior.

02:12In fact, we must be more fighting for ideas of equality and justice more

02:17because we have received more.

02:26I know that the general public, the youth of today, really want to question all types of

02:32wrongs. They are willing to self-question if that means building a better society.

02:38Because we see the way the political system is so self-centered, so all about personal growth

02:45rather than societal growth.

02:51The growth of a democracy, the democratic growth is when you have dialogue, when you

02:56have discussions, when you bring out issues that have always been brushed under the rug.

03:01And once you talk about it, solutions come up.

03:03But it's most important that you recognize it and acknowledge it.

03:07It's only then that you could create some kind of difference.