Made in Heaven makers on Dalit author Yashica Dutt’s claims: We deny her life or work was appropriated by us

On August 14, Dalit author and journalist Yashica Dutt took to her official X handle (formerly Twitter) to say that the makers of Made in Heaven season 2 took up her story for one of their episodes and didn’t give her credit or recognition for it.

Now, in a joint letter, the show’s makers—Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Alankrita Shrivastava and Neeraj Ghaywan—have denied that the episode was drawn from Yashica’s life. “We are deeply disturbed with the misleading reports and comments in context of author Yashica Dutt claiming formal credit for her ‘contribution’ to Made in Heaven…”

In episode five, titled The Heart Skipped A Beat', Radhika Apte plays a Dalit author who has studied at Columbia University. The episode opens with her discussing the term ‘Coming Out’ which she has mentioned in her book. It should be noted that Yashica is also a Columbia graduate and has written the book Coming Out As Dalit.

Pointing out the same, Yashica had written on X, "The scene where the Dalit author who is from Columbia, has written a book about 'Coming Out', and talks about how her grandmother 'manually cleaned toilets' (while wearing all blue as a homage to Ambedkar), asserts her selfhood with her life partner-to-be, gave me chills. It was surreal to see a version of my life on screen that wasn't but yet was still me. But soon the heartbreak set in. They were my words but my name was nowhere. What could have been a celebration of our collective ideas was now tinged with sadness. The ideas I cultivated, that are my life's work, that I continue to receive immense hate still for just speaking, were taken without permission or credit."

In their letter, after talking about the episode, its lead character and its central conflict, the makers stated that the plot wasn’t taken from Yashica’s life or her book. “We categorically deny any claim that Ms. Dutt’s life or work was appropriated by us.”

Stating that the term ‘Coming Out’ has now become common parlance and can’t be attributed to Yashica, the letter read, “Coming out is a 1950’s academic LGBTQIA term that was first used by Mr. Sumit Baudh in the Indian caste identity context in 2007… A decade later it was used by Ms. Dutt in her book.”

The letter concludes with, “We will continue to platform stories and voices that are truly bigger than us.”

Previously, Neeraj had expressed gratitude for the love that was being showered to Episode 3 and 5 especially. In a long Instagram post he had also mentioned Yashica and thanked her. He had written, “A large part of the discourse is from my own personal experiences that writers @zoieakhtar, @reemakagti1 and @alankrita601 drew upon. @suraj.yengde has been a personal inspiration and Sujatha Gidla’s book, Ants Among Elephants, has been part of the research for us. Bhante Vappa, the monk who officiated the ceremony and guided me (thanks to my DA, @mattoonik to have introduced me to him). Thanks to @yashicadutt and her book (Coming Out as a Dalit) which made the term "coming out" become part of the popular culture lexicon for owning one's Dalit identity. This inspired Pallavi's interview section in the episode.”