Film Indu Sarkar

[Macedonio Heninger]

InduSarkar[3] is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language period political thriller film, co-written, co-produced and directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.[4] The story screenplay of the movie is written by Anil Pandey and Madhur Bhandarkar and the dialogues are penned by Sanjay Chhel. Indu Sarkar is produced under the banner of Bhandarkar Entertainment and Mega Bollywood Private Limited. The film is set in the period of the emergency in India, i.e. the 19-month-long period from 1975 to 1977 when there was a state of emergency across the country.The film stars Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Nitanshi Goel and Supriya Vinod.[5] The music is composed by Anu Malik and Bappi Lahiri. The film was released on 28 July 2017 with few cuts.[6][7]

Indu Sarkar includes a recreated version of Aziz Nazan's popular qawwali, Chadhta Sooraj Dheere Dheere Dhal Jaayega.[10] Rashmi Jha was signed for the role of Farzana, which is inspired by socialite Rukhsana Sultana.[11]

The film garnered mixed reviews from critics. Nitin Bhave of Times of India praised the film for its acting performances and gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.[13] Rajeev Masand of News18 gave 2 stars by saying "This is at Best an Average Movie".[14] Hindustan Times criticised the director's confused narrative by giving 2 stars.[15] Giving 2 stars Indian Express also panned the film by saying "A watered-down, bloodless version of the Emergency".[16]

The film generated controversy since the time its trailer got released up until it was shown in the theatres.[17] Indian National Congress supporters heavily criticised the director Bhandarkar's attempt to portray former Prime Minister of India Mrs.Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi in a bad light.[18] However, the director clarified that it was not a biopic on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi under whose regime the Emergency was declared in the country in 1975.[19][20] Sanjay Gandhi's alleged daughter Priya Singh Paul approached the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the film.[21] However, Bombay High Court rejected the plea after Paul failed to present solid evidence of her association with the lineage of Sanjay Gandhi.[22] Just two days before the release Paul moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the release of the movie after Bombay High Court dismissed her plea.[23][24] The Supreme Court also refused to stay the release of the film and quoted it as "The movie is an artistic expression within the parameters of law."[25][26]

After the release of the film several supporters of the Indian National Congress protested and even tried to stall the screening.[27][28][29] Congress workers created ruckus in front of a cinema hall in Indore. Police used canes to disperse those who came to blows.[30]

Indu Sarkar opens with the announcement of the Emergency blaring from radio sets and glaring on front pages of newspapers. It then takes us to a fictitious village in Delhi-Haryana border area, Mubipura, where people are gearing up for a wedding. Suddenly, cops reach the place looking for men to be sterilized. When the men try to hide, the cops hunt them down and drag them even as a 70-year-old and a 13-year-old male ask policemen to consider the futility of including them in the government-ordered drive.

The background score of Indu Sarkar is too loud and misplaced. At times when a rather emotional moment is approaching, what you hear is the loud melodramatic sound usually used in Bollywood suspense dramas.

On the other hand, you can see Indu Sarkar as a double-edged sword. While it depicts the Emergency and the Gandhi family as the perpetrators of cruelty and injustice inflicted upon the masses, the film actually shows the misuse of power. If Madhur Bhandarkar wanted to patronise the ruling party, the irony of his own film is lost on him. The irony of Indu Sarkar is that it is so indulgent in highlighting the importance of free speech and democracy that you could change a few names, few other situations and it could well have been a film about the crisis India is facing today: People with allegiances to the ruling party exploiting the masses and even politicians at their own will.

At one point in Madhur Bhandarkar's Indu Sarkar, Chief (Neil Nitin Mukesh, in an uncannily similar get-up as Sanjay Gandhi) tells one of his chamchas, "Oh, just shut up!" If only every character in Bhandarkar's sleep-inducing 'Emergency drama' could take Chief's advice and not make us go through this near-2.5-hour long torture. The film tries to portray on 70 mm the trials and tribulations common people had to face in India's darkest hour after Independence. It deals with events that unfold over a period of 21 months, the time that the Emergency lasted in Indira Gandhi-led India in 1975-77.

Madhur Bhandarkar has tried to pull all stops to sell his Emergency drama as a film shorn of all mention of Indira Gandhi or the Congress. So let's begin with the very title of the film. It is called 'Indu Sarkar'. A pun as subtle as a gun on Indira Gandhi's Sarkar. Kirti Kulhari has the burden of steering this drama forward. Her character is named Indu Sarkar (and you thought this was a movie on the Indira Gandhi government? Duh.).

Indu is a poet. That is, she is a poet for the first 20 minutes of the film and then we don't see any bit of her poetic talent anywhere. She is married to Naveen Sarkar (Tota Roy Chowdhury), a name to reckon with in the ministry. Naveen is among the handful of people in the echelons of power who came out of the Emergency with their coffers suitably filled. Naveen and Indu get married. He tells her that he moved from 'a scooter to an ambassador' because of the Emergency. He promptly declares at home that no one will speak a word against the Emergency in his house. So far, not good.

When Indu is caught in the crossfire while the police raze a slum to the ground at Delhi's Turkman Gate, her sight falls on two children. Indu tries looking for their parents but in vain. Soon, she takes the kids home much to the chagrin of Naveen. Their marriage starts showing strains. She moves out with the children. Nothing, trust me, N-O-T-H-I-N-G in Indu Sarkar makes any sense after the first few minutes, but more on that later.

Bhandarkar takes upon himself the ambitious project of showing one of the darkest chapters of post-independent India's history on film. And falls flat on his face. Indu Sarkar is a congregation of many over-the-top actors caught in one frame, desperately trying to get out of the film. The latter half of that sentence holds true more for the viewer stuck in a show of Indu Sarkar, though.

Neil Nitin Mukesh's character 'Chief' is given a sinister smirk on his face for most part of his screen time. Neil hams his way through the film without making any impact on anyone at all. Come to think of it, Bhandarkar roped in Neil Nitin Mukesh and went through that elaborate process of getting the Sanjay Gandhi look right, and in the end, none of it mattered. Because the film Indu Sarkar is so prolix with its endless scenes depicting the bad during the Emergency that you can't help but tune out halfway through the first half.

Kirti Kulhari and Tota Roy Chowdhury try their best in this theatre of the absurd but there's only so much one can do in this badly written and badly directed film. All you get to see of the '70s is sepia-tinted shots. Everything in this film is in sepia. When will our directors realise that colouring their lenses sepia does not instantly transport the viewer to the days of yore?

It doesn't take long for the viewer to lose interest in Indu Sarkar. If the person making the film and the ones acting in it are so lazily doing their jobs, there's not much you can expect from the viewer, right? Indu Sarkar is filled to the brim with dialogues that are straight out of a 70s' potboiler, flat characters that are straight out of a bad 70s' potboiler, and a story that is anything but befitting of India's darkest hour post Independence. Madhur Bhandarkar makes his Indu Sarkar less tolerable than even the Indu Sarkar of 1975-77, probably. What Bhandarkar promised was a 'gritty Emergency drama'. Sadly, it can only serve as a jar of Valium for the sleep-deprived.

Two words: Skip this. And if at all you muster up the courage to watch Indu Sarkar, keep a mug of VERY strong coffee handy. You might doze off several times while the Emergency plays out in front of you.

Well, I met a lot of people from that era, especially the people who were marginalized and terrorized and their families. I even spoke to a lot of people who were held under MISA. I also read the Shah commission report to better acquaint myself with what the situation at the time was. I went through books written about the Emergency, newspapers and also a lot of material from the Nehru memorial library.

See, I was aware what was happening. As a film maker, I have friends across the political spectrum. But yes, the whole thing started when word got out that I was making a movie with the Emergency as the backdrop. The moment they heard, they thought it was a political film so the threats and intimidation started. In fact, I got some calls from my well-wishers in Congress also asking me why I would want to make a film that would create trouble for me and would upset people.

The thing is, in 2014, when the entire film fraternity went on a platform and started an anti Narendra Modi tirade, I was the one, along with Lata didi, Kher sahab etc. who stood up and said Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister of India. From that moment onwards, there is a certain hostility towards me in the film industry.

That would seem so. I remember you were in a debate with Sagarika Ghose in the panel and she accused you of staying silent when Karan Johar, or Anurag Kashyap were attacked. This was of course a lie. You had spoken up for their rights and movies.

Oh absolutely, I have always stood up for my fraternity. Whether it was Aye Dil Hain Mushkil or Udta Punjab. In fact, people had put up screenshots of my tweet because some ignorant people made claims about my silence. It was necessary to educate them.

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