|
|
Friday, April 19, 2024
|
|
BOLLYWOOD AAKROSH
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ***1/2
Caste based atrocity is one of the worst, chronic and a few millennia old
injustice of the world. Yet its continuing prevalence, especially in India, is
one of its best kept open-secrets. India`s vibrant cinema has paid scant
attention to it. The commercial venture "Aakrosh" comes as a late but
welcome populist attempt to correct this gross neglect.
After three Delhi medical students disappear from a village in Bihar, two CBI
officials Sidhant (Akshaye Khanna) and Pratap (Ajay Devgn) are sent for
investigation. They encounter not just an inefficient police, but an openly
antagonistic one. Their attempts to uncover the truth lays bare a Pandora`s box
of corruption, illicit power-play, ruthless casteism and murders and abductions
to maintain the status quo.
When all official means fail to bring the guilty to book, the two committed men
are left with no course but to resort to every alternate means possible to
deliver justice in a failed state.
"Aakrosh" is loud and sometimes crass in typical Bollywood fashion
and, as they say, its fiction. What it is not - is a lie. In its own way, it
lays bare the power structures that obstruct justice and thus the true growth of
India, all because of the corrupt collusion of the police, bureaucracy and
politics that uphold age old casteism. The film thus uses a lie to tell the ugly
truth of our society.
"Aakrosh" is also rife with analogies. The Batman and Robin team of
Sidhant and Pratap is a team of an upper-class Brahmin and a lower-caste Dalit
fighting for the same cause but in their own ways. When the straightforward
methods of the no-nonsense Brahmin fails, they have to resort to the
street-smart ways of the Dalit to bring the guilty to book. This is perhaps a
message to the subjugated masses of the country that justice has to be delivered
at any cost, and it is the oppressed that have to use any means available to do
so.
There are factual inconsistencies, like the brazen manner in which the local
police insubordinates a CBI inquiry.
Akshaye Khanna is unconvincing while Ajay Devgn is believable as the quiet but
angry ex-army major who has suffered the consequences of being a Dalit. Paresh
Rawal, the master-key like actor who slides into any role, plays a slimy but
smiling police officer with aplomb and epitomizes the rarely acknowledged truth,
that in rural areas the police is not part of the solution, but is often the
main problem.
Robin Bhatt and Akash Khurana`s writing is crisp and direct. They spare the
audience needless preaching, thus giving the message that it is time for some
action and justice instead.
Sometimes you have to like a film just because its heart is in the right place,
and because it dares to say something few have said before. "Aakrosh"
is one such convincing film whose demerits are swept under the carpet of its
boldness.
Of course, even a commercial venture like this cannot correct a few thousand
years of injustice. But at least it can hold a mirror to the disgust in our
society. Thankfully, if not gracefully enough, Aakrosh holds a correct and
sturdy mirror.
The censor board's decision to award an 'Adults Only' certificate to "Aakrosh" has not gone down well with the film's director Priyadarshan. Read More
Aakrosh is an adaptation from an article of Times of India
during the time of 1995, the story is about Honour Killings.
LISTEN TO YOUR HEART AND YOU DIE………..
The film revolves around a lower caste guy who had gone along with his 2 friends
to a village – Jhanjhar in Bihar, his native place, to watch Ramleela. These 3
students of Delhi University go missing in the dusty village. In the previous 3
months there was no clue where the young students have vanished. Media and
students movement all over Bihar takes a pivotal step for getting hint of these
students, its then government appoints CBI officers Sidhant Chaturvedi (Akshay
Khanna)and Pratap Kumar (Ajay Devgn)and find out the truth under it. A person
residing in Bihar himself and, Pratap understands the intricacies of race
relations in small towns like Jhanjhar. Pratap tries to use his charm and
smartness to crack investigation whereas Sidhant has a very no non-sense, direct
approach investigation. It’s simply a clash of personalities and ideologies.
Investigating in Jhanjhar becomes a tough task for these officers as the local
police force Headed by Bhura Ram with the help of local MP’s and landlords run
a major branch of the Shool Sena. At the same time the two officers cannot break
the ice with local Low cast community members, due to years of fear instilled in
them by regular and highly planned Shool sena attacks. Roshni (Amita
Pathak)(daughter of the most powerful and richest person of village) acts as a
key element to reveal certain realities and give a new direction to the
investigation.
Soon the effect of their investigation causes mayhem in Jhanjhar, with riots,
burning of houses and killing of peasants in broad daylight. Slowly Pratap with
Siddhant’s help starts cracking the case by exerting his influence upon Geeta
(Bipasha Basu)(a victim to the same inhumanity), who acts as a final key to the
investigation. How amongst the animosity created by Shool Sena and the fear of
losing more peasants do Pratap and Sidhant solve this mysterious case is
explained with a chain of exciting, funny and intelligent events that form the
climax of the story.
