Movie Review: Aakrosh
Priyadarshan’s latest film, Aakrosh, specifically deals with ‘honour’ killings – a subject all too familiar in the Pakistani context – but issues of race, caste and creed, political clout and a corrupt and flawed justice system that also form the canvas of the film serve as chilling reminders of our own political culture.
Two CBI officers – played by Ajay Devgan and Akshaye Khanna – are assigned the task of investigating the disappearance of three university students who had travelled from Delhi to Jhanjar, a small town in Bihar, and never returned.
Chaturvedi (Khanna) does everything by the book, whereas Pratap (Devgan), who is more familiar with the complexities of small-town politics, disagrees with his method of investigation. As they dig deeper into the case, the workings of a society that follows strict stratifications of caste, one in which the politicians and policemen are a law unto themselves and the Dalits and women accept their lot in life, are revealed to them.
Chaturvedi soon begins to see the terrible consequences of his bookish approach of conducting an open, public investigation in such a dangerous environment. Knocking at the door of a family member of one of the missing boys, who is also a Dalit, leads to his abduction. When a suspected accomplice is pursued for interrogation, he is killed during the chase in a road ‘accident.’ When the Dalit community rises in protest against the atrocities committed against them, particularly by members of the Shool Sena who barge into their homes carrying swords and slaughter them, they are lathi-charged by the police. And that’s not all – the Shool Sena men respond by burning down the entire village. When the woman, whose husband and child have been publicly hung in front of her, is approached by CBI officers for questioning, she is abducted and recovered with her tongue severed.
Truth comes at a huge price. The slightest threat to political and judicial clout is dealt with in the most brutal manner.
However, tackling the larger social ills, Aakrosh doesn’t leave out the individual stories. Extremely poignant is the character of one of the missing boys who tries to marry outside of his caste and has to face tragic consequences, as do Pratap and Geeta (Bipasha Basu). Domestic violence is also touched upon, with Basu playing the abused wife. She is not allowed to marry her love Pratap as he is a Dalit, and is forcibly married off to the ruthless Rawal. In one scene, he is shown humiliating her in front of guests, who have been invited to watch a mujra at their house, for breaking a bottle of wine that was to be served to them. And when Geeta decides to cooperate with the CBI and provides valuable information that implicates her husband in the case of the missing boys, she is nearly beaten to death.
Aakrosh’s cast turns in some powerful portrayals. And it is not only the main players in the saga – Paresh Rawal, Akhshaye Khanna and Ajay Devgan – who do justice to their characters. Even the minor characters such as the ministers and accomplices, Bipasha Basu and Reema Sen, who plays the woman whose tongue is severed, shine in well-etched roles.
Aakrosh boasts both memorable performances and a riveting storyline, and it must be watched for two reasons: first, for Paresh Rawal, who is outstanding as the bad cop, Ajatshatru Singh; and second, for the sensitive manner in which the CBI team learns to overcome the many hurdles in its way, adapt to the situation and improvise to push for justice. Perhaps our investigation agencies will pick up a tip or two along the way.
This review originally appeared in the print edition of Newsline under the headline “The Fight for Justice.”
The opinions expressed in this article and the views shared by readers in the comment forum below do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance or policies of Newsline.
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