In Little Hearts, a deeply problematic line has gone unnoticed. In a crucial scene, the male lead says that caste shouldn't be an issue for his love story because he hails from an upper-caste community, meaning that he is more deserving than a lower-caste person to be loved. The film, otherwise well-written and engaging, promotes caste consciousness and even normalizes caste-based discrimination through the scene. Ideally, the CBFC should have muted it.
In an interview, Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas said that he was suprised by the deep Telugu vocabulary of his Kishkindhapuri director, Koushik Pegallapati. "I asked him what his background was. He told me he is a Brahmin," Bellamkonda said, revealing the caste identity of his director even though nobody asked him to. Considering that his caste identity has little to do with his linguistic proficiency, the Brahmin reference was not needed.
Late Kota Srinivasa Rao once remarked that he was indebted to the Kamma community for giving him work in the film industry. "Even though I am a Brahmin, I have no problem in thanking the Kammas," Kota said, forgetting that privileged landed castes have got the money and that explains their monopoly in the film industry.
It's shocking that celebrities and movies casually promote casteism!
