About Me
Somnath Waghmare is a Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker, visual researcher, and cultural practitioner from Malewadi village in Sangli district, western Maharashtra, India. Raised in a rural Dalit-Buddhist family, his early life was shaped by the socio-economic and cultural realities of post-industrial migration, caste segregation, and agrarian labour. His mother worked as an agricultural labourer, while his father was employed in Bombay’s textile mills during the 1990s. Following the collapse of the city’s textile industry, the family returned to their native village, where Waghmare completed his schooling and undergraduate education. Growing up within a caste-segregated settlement profoundly informed his understanding of caste, memory, labour, dignity, and resistance, themes that continue to constitute the intellectual and aesthetic foundations of his work.
Waghmare’s engagement with visual documentation began through photography and ethnographic observation of everyday life in rural Maharashtra, particularly the lived experiences, cultural practices, and political assertions of Dalit communities. Over time, this developed into a sustained cinematic and research practice concerned with caste, public memory, Ambedkarite politics, labour histories, social movements, and the visual cultures of historically marginalized communities in India. His work occupies an important space within contemporary anti-caste visual discourse, combining documentary realism with political and archival inquiry.
He completed his M.Phil. at Tata Institute of Social Sciences,Mumbai in 2019, where his research examined caste and the cultural politics of contemporary Marathi cinema. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil College under Shivaji University, and a Master’s degree in Media and Communication Studies from Savitribai Phule Pune University. He began his professional journey at Film and Television Institute of India through its community radio initiatives, and later collaborated with Amnesty International India.
Working independently and often outside institutional frameworks, Waghmare has developed a significant body of documentary work that critically interrogates caste hierarchies, structures of exclusion, collective memory, and forms of political resistance in contemporary India. His films include I Am Not a Witch (2015), The Battle of Bhima Koregaon: An Unending Journey (2017), Memories of Mangaon(2022), There Is No Caste Discrimination in IITs?(2023), Chaityabhumi(2024), Mahaupasak – Yashwant Painter (2025), and Gail & Bharat (2025)
His documentary Chaityabhumi, presented by filmmaker Pa. Ranjith and released on MUBI, received critical acclaim for its exploration of Chaityabhumi in Mumbai’s Dadar, the cremation site of B. R. Ambedkar and one of the most significant sites of anti-caste public memory in India. The film documents the annual gathering of lakhs of Ambedkarite followers who assemble to pay tribute to Ambedkar, situating the space as both a memorial and a living political archive. The film has screened at several leading international institutions, including London School of Economics , King’s College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, SOAS,Columbia University, Stanford University, Princeton University, University of Texas at Austin, New York University and University of Göttingen and many Indian University, cultural centres and Art festivals.
His recent documentary Gail & Bharat (2025) examines the shared political and personal journey of sociologist Gail Omvedt and activist Bharat Patankar. The film situates their relationship within the wider histories of anti-caste struggles, feminist movements, labour politics, peasant organizing, and grassroots democratic mobilizations in India.
Somnath is the co-founder of The Ambedkar Age Digital Bookmobile The Ambedkar Age Digital Bookmobile, an archival and cultural initiative dedicated to documenting Dalit rural singers and oral traditions across Maharashtra. Supported by the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, the project engages with questions of cultural memory, performance, community archives, and vernacular histories. His films and visual works have also been presented at major international art and cultural platforms, including Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Bienal de São Paulo Brazil , and Serendipity Arts Festival Goa, where his work has engaged critically with caste, public space, aesthetics, and visual resistance.
His writings, interviews, and perspectives on caste, cinema, media, and representation have appeared in publications and platforms such as The Guardian, LSE Blog, BBC Marathi, The Indian Express,The Times of India, The Hindu,Hindustan Times, Mid Day, Frontline, Outlook, Scroll.in, The Wire, The Print,The NewsMinute,Cinema Express,The Federal, Mint Lounge, The News Minute,Silverscreen and Vice, among others. He has also delivered lectures and participated in seminars, panel discussions, and academic forums internationally on questions of caste, cinema, visual culture, media representation, and social justice.
Waghmare is also the founder of Begumpura Productions, an independent production initiative committed to documenting the histories, struggles, and political assertions of Dalits and other historically marginalized communities in India. The initiative also seeks to support emerging independent filmmakers working at the intersections of caste and social justice through cinema.