My Presentation Link: https://youtu.be/sGwVcGc8Ms0
The
film opens at a party where Anant Welankar (Om
Puri),
a police officer, meets Jyotsna Gokhale (Smita
Patil),
a lecturer in literature at a local college. Anant is a sub-inspector
with Bombay police. They seem to hit it off despite some initial
skirmishing about ideology, and the friendship blossoms into a
relationship.
Anant
brings diligence, enthusiasm and a definite idealism to his job. But
the job is harsh. There is a deep nexus between the local mafia, the
cops and the (corrupt) politicians. Honest himself, Anant falls among
the lower rungs of the police hierarchy and has very limited scope of
authority on the state of affairs in his area.
When
Anant arrests three common thugs, he is asked to meet with their
boss, Rama Shetty (Sadashiv
Amrapurkar),
a don in the local mafia. Anant refuses all of Rama Shetty's attempts
to get his men out or to entice Anant to join him. Shetty decides to
watch over Anant.
Some
time thereafter, a meek fellow from a local slum lodges a complaint
about some ruffians who harass his wife. Anant finds them, locks them
up, and administers a severe beating. As a fallout, the local MLA
asks for Anant to be suspended.
Anant's
boss, inspector Haider Ali, explains to a mystified Anant that the
ruffians were the MLA's henchmen, providers of muscle during
elections and political rallies. Anant is defiant with a clear
conscience (he did nothing wrong) and ready to face a tribunal.
Haider Ali explains that it will hardly get that far. Tribunals are
either delayed indefinitely or are rigged (by corrupt politicians),
and suspension during that time is a permanent black mark on one's
record (for no other politician will be willing to deal with such a
troublemaker).
Anant
is initially baffled but goes along with Haider's plan to bring in
Desai, a mediator or middle-man with connections in New Delhi, the
"Centre" or national seat of power. Desai invokes higher
powers to quietly cover up the matter. Anant's morals are shaken by
this incident: He had to use means barely legal to uphold his
righteous actions upon criminals.
Anant
reflects upon his childhood. His father (Amrish
Puri)
retired as a Faujdar (constable) in the village police force. His
father was a hard and violent man, quick to slap or beat his wife on
the slightest pretext. Anant recalls looking on and being powerless
to intervene. When Anant graduates college, he expresses his desire
to pursue higher education but is forced into joining the police
force.
Things
get interesting when Anant finds one of Rama Shetty's goons, badly
beaten, burnt and left to die. Anant brings the man into the hospital
and takes his statement where he names Rama Shetty and others who
inflicted this assault. Anant storms into Rama Shetty's rooms to
arrest him. But Shetty is unfazed. He makes a simple phone call to a
high ranking cop who immediately asks Anant to back off. Anant cites
the context and the overwhelming evidence but is still ordered to
step away. A consternated, resentful and hapless Anant leaves,
feeling intensely humiliated.
Haider
Ali explains yet again: Rama Shetty plans to run for city council in
the upcoming municipal elections and simply cannot afford to let a
petty matter distract his ambitions. Anant is horrified and enraged,
and takes to drinking. His relationship with Jyotsna suffers. He is
distraught when he is sent to provide security cover for Rama
Shetty's campaign rallies.
He
suffers another career setback when he leads an assault team to
capture a dangerous daku (armed
bandit) in the hills outside Mumbai,
and the credit for the arrest is ultimately handed to another
officer. His relationship deteriorates further and he takes to
drinking fairly heavily. When Jyotsna confronts him, he confides in
her.
Jyotsna
tries to be supportive and suggests he consider another career. (She
is motivated by recent news stories about police brutality and has
decided that she will not marry a police officer.) He has always
tried to do the right thing, but his well-intentioned actions always
seem to be thwarted by the tentacles of corruption in the police
force or the political strata. In the alcoholic trans a prisoner is
killed by Anant in the jail when he uses 'third degree' and now Anant
is not only likely to be arrested and jailed, but also has to lose
his entire career. Finally he surrenders to Rama Shetty for political
protection. Now, in the clutches of Rama Shetty, Anant has to obey
his every order and humiliation. The dirty conditions put by Rama
Shetty angers Anant and he kills Rama Shetty and then surrenders
voluntarily to the Police for any punishment.
The cyclical narrative of half truths is a recurring and powerful tool that deconstructs Arun's identity over the course of the film. He is both vengeful God and tortured intellect, martyr and protector, a mishmash of opposites and contradictions. Unlike Seema, who is always pure, supportive, or Rama Shetty, who is irreconcilably crooked, it is easier for Arun to shift identities. As you say, he alternates from weak and conflicted to violent and aggressive, because his upbringing and values systems clash when he is forced to take up the role of the police officer. He tries to forge a path as a righteous cop in an unrighteous system, but he doesn't know how to accomplish such a task without violence, partly because the cards are staked against him, and partly because of the learned behavior he undesirably gleaned from his abusive father.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of the bus beating scene was spot on. The wide, overhead angle of the shot where Arun beats the man on the street lends the audience to witness the performance as an out of body experience. We - like Arun - feel detached from what is happening. The passive faces of the onlookers on the bus reflects on the ironic duality of Arun's nature. He is stuck in this cycle of violence from which he cannot escape.
Why Arun and Seema?
DeleteNathan,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your presentation! I will admit that when I watched this film, it was my least favorite of the movies we have watched for this class thus far. The reason for this is the very subject of your presentation: toxic masculinity. Specifically, two of the scenes which you mentioned were particularly disturbing to me. The first was the one in which Anant beats the man who was being inappropriate with Jyotsna. While the beating was over the top and not proportional to the crime, what was more disturbing was the effect that the toxic masculinity had on Jyotsna. She insists that Anant stop beating the man, which isn't particularly unreasonable, but then she later tells him that he should have done nothing at all because this is just something that women experience on a regular basis. The toxic masculinity that drives Anant to seek justice is also the same masculinity, as you mentioned, that allows Jyotsna to feel like because such molestation is commonplace, it is also acceptable. For me, this set up an even greater contrast between Jyotsna and Anant. Jyotsna can wear the pure white sari and be uncorrupted by the society she lives in because she never dirties herself trying to change the society in any way. She passively accepts the unwanted advances of the man on the bus and then becomes upset that Anant caused a scene to stop it. Anant on the other hand embraces the dirty work that comes with trying to change their society, to the point that he takes all of his acts of justice beyond the boundaries of reason. This leads me to the second scene in the film that I found particularly disturbing, which was the one in which Anant beats the prisoner to death. The prisoner hasn't even been jailed for rape or murder, but because he is a thief. For Anant, as someone who has been affected by the toxic masculinity of the society but wants to also work against it, or at least the effects of it, his only recourse is to take the masculine physical and violent response of punishing evil to its extreme. While Jyotsna is hyper-passive in her refusal to stand up for herself or even allow Anant to stand up for her when she is being done wrong, Anant is hyper-active or hyper-reactive in all of his responses to crime and wrongdoings. The toxic masculinity unfortunately poisons his attempts at curbing its effects and ultimately makes him as much a victim of his society as a contributor to it.
Thanks again for your excellent presentation!