Film Review by Rama Gaind
Bollywood Film: Aarakshan (Reservation)
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Tanvi Azmi, Manoj Bajpayee, Prateik Babbar
Director: Prakash Jha
Aarakshan is a new Bollywood film that tackles the tricky issue of caste quotas in government jobs and education in India.
Reservation refers to the policy of a guarantee of jobs for socially disadvantaged groups, referred to officially as “scheduled tribes, scheduled castes and other backward classes”.
However, it partially touches the core theme of reservation – in its first half only.
While the film has attracted its fair share of protests in India, director Prakash Jha has denied taking a position on the issue.
Known for tackling social issues like power politics and corruption with films such as Rajneeti, Gangaajal, Damul and Mrityudand, Jha says his film is not anti-reservation and/or anti-Dalit – referring to the community previously known as ‘untouchables’.
He says people have benefitted from this policy and there are those who have missed out because of it. “Reservation and the quota system is a hard-hitting reality,” according to Jha.
By making this film, he says he’s “trying to bridge the gap”.
No, but it delivers a forceful message.
Prakash Jha turns a complex theme into a harmless, shallow and simplistic Bollywood-style good-versus-evil drama.
Quota imposition
The Supreme Court’s 2008 verdict on the approval of additional reservations for other backward classes is supposed to be the centre of this film, but it hardly touches the topic except for what’s common knowledge. The film does not give a broader perspective on the national issue, choosing instead to deliver the implications through the boundaries of the principal protagonist’s perspective.
Certainly this is an emotive subject matter that sees Amitabh Bachchan playing an idealistic college principal who rallies against the imposition of quotas.
A bitter turf war – of good teacher and bad teacher – is fought on the sprawling college campus of Shakuntala Thakral Mahavidyalaya. The differences, with even students taking sides, leads to violent disagreements as exchange of words erupts between newly-appointed junior lecturer Deepak Kumar (Saif Ali Khan) and his mentor and principal Dr Prabhakar Anand (Bachchan).
Another dramatic confrontation is between Deepak (of a lower caste) and an upper caste student Sushant Seth (Prateik), who is the son of a member of the private trust that runs the college.
Then there is the crafty assistant principal, Mithilesh Singh (Bajpayee), who relishes his role with glee.
Also in the picture, of course, are the principal’s wife (Azmi), dutiful daughter (Padukone) and her love-interest Deepak.
The second half leaps into a plot woven around Dr Anand’s crusade to rescue his students from the clutches of avaricious men who turn education into a money-spinning racket.
The film ventures clear of the danger zone and presents characters – some of them are obviously misguided – who are bereft of a tangible presence.
