ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 Artists and Critical Presence: Beyond Dalit as a Representation MANJU EDACHIRA Manju Edachira (manjueeswar@gmail.com) is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Vol. 57, Issue No. 9, 26 Feb, 2022 The article attempts to examine the idea of critical presence in opposition to representational realm by examining the presence of two Dalit actors from Malayalam film industry: (the late) Kalabhavan Mani and Vinayakan, in Indian media. Instead of focusing on their characters and films, this article seeks to explore the possibilities opened up by these actors through their critical presence in the industry though they differ in their approach. It is always a tough task to distinguish between the ideas of representation and presence (Derrida1978) especially when it comes to the discussion on Dalits and visual media. Perhaps, it is the over presence of structuralist or the post-structuralist ways of understanding the discourse on representation, which suggests that meanings are not given but created through representations (Derrida 1982; Said 2001). Reiterating these formulations, Indian media has succeeded in creating certain stereotypical images of Dalits through various forms such as literature, films, television series, cartoons and so on which contributed to the creation of certain “default” as a pattern of representation (Wankhede 2013; Sundar 2019). Interestingly, the creative imaginations have changed recently, as more films, writings and art works by Dalits have emerged and questioned available representations (Yengde 2018; Nisha 2020). Perhaps the emergence of anti-caste filmmakers is one of the significant changes that prompts one to move beyond the questions