It happened one frenzied night and a
shocked nation has been mute witness. Tragedy lurked n every corner and the
life of an entire community known for its patriotic fervour was called to
testify its patriotic credentials on the streets of a city on fire. The
illusory self-certification of being a peace-loving nation stood battered.
Neighbourhoods became burial grounds. Friends became anti national all in a
moment.
The incidents that swept Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira
Gandhi by her security staff even as she was walking for an interview with
Peter Ustinov is all too well known. The collective that we are have tried hard
to push it under the carpet. Every once in a way, it raises its ugly head. Once
every five years someone takes the stick to beat up an old feud. The incident
however is a dark scar on the credentials of a nation that wears secularism and
tolerance on its sleeve. Pretensions have never been more hypocritical. The
tragedy is all too well known to mention. Why even in the Prince in Waiting
said: there are always tremors when a great tree falls!! We learn from
history that hatred backed by power leads but to catastrophe.
Devender Singh (Vir Das) and Tejinder Kaur (Soha Ali Khan) live in their small
little world with their three children, including the two school going boys who
ask why they should be subject to ridicule for their long hair in school.
Outside everything is hunky dory. Why even that morning
everything is fine. The neighbourhood wakes to camaraderie and warmth. But even
as news spreads that the Prime Minister has been assassinated by two members of
a community from her own security staff, people start taking positions. The
national certifiers get to the overkill position and begin to question the
credentials of a community that has always been known for its patriotic fervour
and contribution to the nation. The “they” vs “We” battle begins and everyone
is called upon to go through the agnipareeksha of patriotism and allegiance to
the nation.
Even as Davinder is at work (Electricity department) his world and faith come
crumbling down. While his children return early from school, his wife is caught
and is eye witness to the frenzied mob fury that takes over Delhi and (Tilak
Nagar where they live). From here we are witness to how groups with swords and
sticks attack Sikhs and how the victims can do no more than suffer without
resistance.
This is familiar territory for our cinema. From the path breaking MS Sathyu’s
Garam Hawa to more recent films like Black Friday, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Parzania ,
Kai Po Che, Firaaq and in league of its own Maachis have dealt with riots and
laity with clarity and poignancy. Not this time though.
The film maker Shivaji Lotan Patil is in a royal mess with his structure. He
simply fails to deliver the punch. In fact, the discerning viewer is waiting
for the riots to happen!! He meanders to establish the premise and having done
so at a leisurely pace he tends to repeat incidents to push the point that
lawlessness with the support of the political bigwigs (remember HKL Bhagat,
Fotedar, Tytler…… How three friends Pal (Deepraj Rana), Tilak (Vineet Sharma)
and Yogesh (Lakha Lakhwinder Singh) save the family from the madness and
frenzy, defy the police including the corrupt Inspector Dahiya (Nagesh Bhosle)
and at what cost is what the script is all about.
It was Ellie Weisel who said: tormentors tormented and crushed their prey,
torturers tortured human beings whom they met for the first time, slaughterers
slaughtered their victims without so much as a glance flames rose to heaven and
nothing ever jammed the mechanism. It was as if it all unfolded according to a
plan decreed from the beginning of time.
And what of human ideals, or the beauty of innocence or the weight of
justice? And what of God in all this?
+ Idea
_ Execution
Rating 2.5 stars
L. Ravichander.
L. Ravichander.