I just watched a new Akshay Kumar movie on Netflix: Jolly LLB 3. I have grown to like this fellow, for all his slapstick and earthiness and splayed-tooth laugh - there is a kind of decency, sincerity and social urgency about many of the roles he has played that appeal strongly to something in me. I have enjoyed movies like Airlift, Toilet: ek premkatha, and OMG. Better in many simple but touching ways than much of the pretentious trash we see on screen these days.
The storyline, though, is what really had me glued. It is about how filthy rich land sharks are gobbling up large pieces of our rural hinterland at throwaway prices, and that too with money borrowed from public sector banks (certainly not their own mehnat ki kamai, as the lawyer demonstrated in court), then 'developing' these places at enormous profit to build an airport here, a golf course there, a mine elsewhere and a luxury housing estate somewhere else. Very often they abuse the 'system' in every way they can on their way to piling up their ever-bulging fortunes, from co-opting public servants to bribing and threatening and occasionally even killing off those who stand in the way, be they journalists or the police, judges, recalcitrant villagers or NGOs helping them. And always, their slogan is that someone must 'sacrifice' a little so that the country can 'progress', as long as the sacrificers are the poorest and most vulnerable. Indeed, such is the logic of capitalism that they have the most hotshot lawyers and journos and even the occasional lawmaker to argue plausibly and strenuously on their behalf, for very hefty fees, of course: there is an 'eminent professional economist' on their payroll in this movie who has done very nicely for himself by selling 'expert advice' to his clients.
The movie was made in feel-good style, so the bullet-hit district magistrate arrives on a stretcher to give damning testimony in court, the lawyer duo plead earnestly, cleverly and convincingly, the ageing and trouble-avoiding judge, goaded beyond endurance by the tycoon's offensive arrogance (can you actually call a judge a clown and and idiot to his face in open court in India, however rich and powerful you are?), gives a stern and just verdict, the project is abandoned, the determined old woman who had stubbornly fought for her rights is shown respect and compensated to some extent, and the villagers celebrate with Holi colours, so all is hunky dory.
The good thing about the movie is that such a story can still be told in India, where it comes so close to reality in criticizing the kind of shameless and rapacious crony capitalism that has now taken root. And, well, Netflix has not (yet) been ordered to take it down. This is the kind of movie that can open many eyes, especially in a country where so many of us prefer to stay blind for as long as we can (indeed, so many of us have been conditioned to admire and salivatingly fawn upon such robber barons as great 'success stories' to be hero worshipped). The sad part of reality is two-fold. One, a mere district judge's verdict can easily be overturned in a higher court if you have the right kind of money and connections - that is how our 'democracy' functions. Two, most people are so trivially affected by such stories that the effect does not last beyond a few days or weeks, so there is little hope that, regardless of the good intentions of the storytellers (I deeply admire their idealistic perseverance), it will create the kind of lasting public awareness, caution and outrage which can permanently put shackles on the kind of vastly powerful predators who today absolutely dominate our society. Haven't such stories been told before? Remember Rang de Basanti and 3 Idiots?
P.S.: Surprising and most ticklish irony - the movie has been financed by Star Studios, a subsidiary of Jio Star, and everybody knows who is the head honcho of Jio. He financed the film?! Why on earth?
