Today was a day of khakee vardis and clashing ideologies, a day of increasing respect for the upright and righteous, while, at the same time a deepening sense of loss of faith and trust. Amitabh's the master of the screen, his acting skills only gaining ground as he ages. He is the undisputed Shahenshah of Indian cinema, the indubitable assayer of India's cultural roots and its constitution, albeit on-screen. With the power to reach the masses, to infuse in them faculties of nationalistic pride and duty, honour and religious tolerance, I say again, there can be no political campaign more searing and hard-hitting.
Of course, it is entirely because of braveheart directors like Raj Kumar Santoshi and Govind Nihalani that we get a glimpse of truth through these powerful movies. Movies, made with steely veins, gumption and raw blood from their hearts, notwithstanding box office predictions and sales, or the demand for crassness and skin. The few embellishments that each Dev and Khakee have, stay merely that, not interfering with the plot too much or leading the audience astray. Govind Nihalani's direction has been especially good in Dev, pitting two behemoths of Indian cinema, one a monolith of commercial cinema fare while the other a nationally and internationally acclaimed heavyweight of parallel cinema. While Raj Kumar Santoshi strengthens Amitabh's character and credibility with his supporting band of officers, Govind Nihalani has Amitabh and Om Puri as two charioteers attempting to rein in the Indian judicial system, wherein only one can survive, quite reflective of the current religious sentiment in India.
Ignoring all the frills, technical bloopers and incredulous stunts, the movies deliver the message they are intended to. No, the message does not ask you not to trust the police and politicians (who represent our first synonym for corruption since we were children) who are in cahoots, but urges you to take a more objective view of our duties and responsibilities, without hampering our vision with clouds of religious hatred. Dharm ka paalan karna hamara karm hai, says Dev, while Ananth promulgates that insaaf nyaayalay me milta hai, har naagrik aur kaum ke krodh se nahin.
For all the ideologies, verbosity and sermonizing that are the lowest common denominator in these movies, how much of it is really true? Are there real life character on which the movie is based, or are they just a figment of the writer's imagination that happened to be relevant to our times? Dev brings back memories of the Gujarat riots (from which I feel so far-removed because I was 10,000 miles away when they happened), and reminds us that we, as citizens, have a moral obligation to uphold our constitution and not let discrimination based on caste or religion veer us from our ordained path of virtue, dignity and rectitude. We are a nation that has to fight invaders, terrorists and traitors, not Muslims or Hindus. Do Amitabh or Govind Nihalani practice this open-mindedness, fair play and patriotism in their lives? If they do, then they are beacons for generations, but if they don't, is it fair to expect ordinary people to change their attitudes based on media projected view-points while the makers and creators of this propaganda ignore troth and treat this just as a means to fame?
On another related note, Saath Saath (made a few decades back) depicts two conflicting philosophies two, only this time, within the same person. Man is a piece of metal that can be forged into anything on the anvil of life's circumstances. An upright, honest individual who is unflinching in the harsh glare of reality is forced to change when life puts forth demands that he cannot keep up with. There is a constant tug-of-war with his conscience and he finally gives in to one of the two ways, the easier and compromising one of course. The rest of the movie is a close look at his increasing dissoluteness and dissolution into the world of demoralization, dishonesty and depravity before we have an abrupt end where his wife makes him realize, reform and revise to his old days.
All this teaches me one thing, it is excruciating to stand by your principles and sometimes even impossible but the truest measure of the grist in you is when you don't go astray. It is not about how high and out-of-reach-from ordinary-people my tenets are, but how I stick by even the easiest of them, how I follow my conscientious path even in the face of extreme hardship, torture and temptation.
Of course, it is entirely because of braveheart directors like Raj Kumar Santoshi and Govind Nihalani that we get a glimpse of truth through these powerful movies. Movies, made with steely veins, gumption and raw blood from their hearts, notwithstanding box office predictions and sales, or the demand for crassness and skin. The few embellishments that each Dev and Khakee have, stay merely that, not interfering with the plot too much or leading the audience astray. Govind Nihalani's direction has been especially good in Dev, pitting two behemoths of Indian cinema, one a monolith of commercial cinema fare while the other a nationally and internationally acclaimed heavyweight of parallel cinema. While Raj Kumar Santoshi strengthens Amitabh's character and credibility with his supporting band of officers, Govind Nihalani has Amitabh and Om Puri as two charioteers attempting to rein in the Indian judicial system, wherein only one can survive, quite reflective of the current religious sentiment in India.
Ignoring all the frills, technical bloopers and incredulous stunts, the movies deliver the message they are intended to. No, the message does not ask you not to trust the police and politicians (who represent our first synonym for corruption since we were children) who are in cahoots, but urges you to take a more objective view of our duties and responsibilities, without hampering our vision with clouds of religious hatred. Dharm ka paalan karna hamara karm hai, says Dev, while Ananth promulgates that insaaf nyaayalay me milta hai, har naagrik aur kaum ke krodh se nahin.
For all the ideologies, verbosity and sermonizing that are the lowest common denominator in these movies, how much of it is really true? Are there real life character on which the movie is based, or are they just a figment of the writer's imagination that happened to be relevant to our times? Dev brings back memories of the Gujarat riots (from which I feel so far-removed because I was 10,000 miles away when they happened), and reminds us that we, as citizens, have a moral obligation to uphold our constitution and not let discrimination based on caste or religion veer us from our ordained path of virtue, dignity and rectitude. We are a nation that has to fight invaders, terrorists and traitors, not Muslims or Hindus. Do Amitabh or Govind Nihalani practice this open-mindedness, fair play and patriotism in their lives? If they do, then they are beacons for generations, but if they don't, is it fair to expect ordinary people to change their attitudes based on media projected view-points while the makers and creators of this propaganda ignore troth and treat this just as a means to fame?
On another related note, Saath Saath (made a few decades back) depicts two conflicting philosophies two, only this time, within the same person. Man is a piece of metal that can be forged into anything on the anvil of life's circumstances. An upright, honest individual who is unflinching in the harsh glare of reality is forced to change when life puts forth demands that he cannot keep up with. There is a constant tug-of-war with his conscience and he finally gives in to one of the two ways, the easier and compromising one of course. The rest of the movie is a close look at his increasing dissoluteness and dissolution into the world of demoralization, dishonesty and depravity before we have an abrupt end where his wife makes him realize, reform and revise to his old days.
All this teaches me one thing, it is excruciating to stand by your principles and sometimes even impossible but the truest measure of the grist in you is when you don't go astray. It is not about how high and out-of-reach-from ordinary-people my tenets are, but how I stick by even the easiest of them, how I follow my conscientious path even in the face of extreme hardship, torture and temptation.
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