PremiumAs Bastar fails to create any dent; Newton, Swades, to Shahid – 6 times we got the formula right
Bastar: The Naxal Story is in theatres now and the movie is taking us back to a debate; here are films that act like antidotes.
Last Updated: 08.39 PM, Mar 17, 2024
The abundance of content in cinema halls and on streaming platforms in the current times has spoiled us with options. While we are overwhelmed with the range of choices, there is now also a genre that caters to ideologies and satisfies the egos of some. The last such couple of films we remember which were labeled with this tag had to be the widely controversial Animal starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead and the much-talked-about The Kerala Story that stars Adah Sharma in the lead. The latter has been a film that divided audiences into two sides where the ones against called it a propaganda movie. The same team has now made another movie titled Bastar: The Naxal Story.
While Bastar: The Naxal Story is not as blatant as the former, it still very much serves an ideology that is very visible in some recent movies. But this was not always the case in the Hindi film industry. Yes, movies that talk of one side and try to whitewash the ones they support have been evident forever, but there was also enough content that spoke of an unbiased land where the concern was the betterment of the people and it did not come at the cost of demeaning the other party. These were movies that spoke of progress, a political landscape that needs to look at education and the betterment of the country rather than digging up old wars with no outcome.
So, as the occurrence of these films where a real-life incident was shown in a way that it didn’t demonize an entire community becomes rare now, we at OTTplay serve as your reminder and bring to you six movies from varied genres which, while being about conflicts, never tried to frame the entire opposite side as the villain.
Madras Cafe (2013)
Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, and Raashii Khanna.
Director: Shoojit Sircar. Streaming On: Netflix.
Starting with a movie that stems out of a very serious real-life incident where a Prime Minister was assassinated at a rally. Madras Cafe by Shoojit Sircar was a movie that delved into the politics of the time and land but at no moment in its complete timeline did the movie ever take sides and called the other party stupid with its narrative. Yes, it did show how dark the darkness was but not at the cost of the creative minds being the judges.
An Insignificant Man (2016)
Cast: NA. Directors: Vinay Shukla & Khushboo Ranka.
Streaming On: NA.
Vinay Shukla, who is now in the news for his stellar documentary While We Watched based on Ravish Kumar, last made An Insignificant Man that was based on a brief period in the life of Arvind Kejriwal. The superpower in Vinay’s direction is how he manages to detach himself from the subject and not let even a fragment of his opinion about it show up in his content. The documentary taught many in this country how it’s done and will always be a good example.
Newton (2017)
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, and Anjali Patil.
Director: Amit Masurkar.
Streaming On: NA.
Set in the same territory as Bastar, Newton was a movie that beamed hope in a place that had accepted darkness. It is about a man who dares to say that he will conduct elections in a landscape that is under the Naxals and tries to bring order. Amit Masurkar, rather than showing a problem, emphasized a solution that is logical and doesn’t demand killing someone or eradicating people who are against his ideology.
Swades (2004)
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan and Gayatri Joshi.
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker.
Streaming On: Netflix.
Swades will always be that one Shah Rukh Khan film that talks of change in the most heartfelt and strong way. A man who has spent most of his adulthood in a foreign country comes back to his small village in India only to realize his home world has not walked with the rest of the globe towards progress. He takes the charge decided to be the changemaker who triggers development to bring that change. A movie that told many like us to start with our home and eventually make the world a better place to live.
Gulaal (2009)
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Raj Singh Chaudhary, Piyush Mishra, Mahie Gill, and Deepak Dobriyal.
Director: Anurag Kashyap.
Streaming On: NA.
Anurag Kashyap talking about politics of any land in itself is a treat because the man understands what he is talking about. He understands the pros, the cons, brutality if any, the dark underbelly, and also the fact there is always hope even in the darkest of the corners. Gulaal is one of the most haunting yet important films about the divide in our society which is beyond the boundary and more in the minds. The movie turns 15 this year and there is no better time to watch it if you haven’t.
Shahid (2012)
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Prabhleen Sandhu, and Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub.
Director: Hansal Mehta.
Streaming On: NA.
Hansal Mehta a decade ago decided to make one of the most alarming biopics of them all, Shahid. A movie that saw the system pushing a man who wanted to be a human to a place that would test his humanity. The movie spoke to a wide audience and became one of the most discussed films of that year and years to come. Shahid will always be remembered for an iconic Rajkummar Rao performance and a narrative that was tricky but very responsible.
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