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On policing stereotypes
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Ever wondered why cops in Hindi cinema are either all-black or all-white? Thugs in uniform or a one-man army? Seasoned cop Arun Kumar gives us his take on the projection of policemen in Hindi films
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“Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi” was quite a bold film with its frank portrayal of the cops in Champaran.”
Cop it Scenes from “Dev”
Films, it is said, provide a mirror to see a heightened reflection of our lives. And our Hindi cinema, right from the time of “Gunga Jamuna”, to many of the recent films from Ram Gopal Varma, has always revelled in its fascination with po
licemen. The men in khakee are often a central or at least an important character in any Hindi film. But as in many other aspects of life, there are just stereotypes. The cops are at times do-gooders, men larger than life, the kind who would brook nothing in their call of duty. The kind of superman virtually every hero has played at least once in his career: be it Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, and lately Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan, etc. Then there are cops on the screen who are shown either as buffoons or rogues, the kind of guys who are on the payroll of the underworld. Actors like Asrani, Jagdeep and Kader Khan have made a career essaying the former, and Sivaji Satam and Mukesh Rishi often etch out the latter. In the depiction of these two extremes, Bollywood often loses sight of the reality. There is no scope for greys when it comes to policemen in Hindi films.
Of course, there have been exceptions, notably “Seher”, debutant director Kabeer Kaushik’s film that narrated my own experience in tackling organised crime in Northern India. It was a realistic depiction with Kabeer making no attempt at glorification of either the criminals or the cops. It presented a balanced view as the director was bent on depicting things as they were. I was closely involved for almost two years with the scripting of the film, but after that I visited the shooting location only once. I had faith in Kabeer, and he vindicated that with a film that had no exaggeration, no larger-than-life depiction of the central character.
Shool”
However, the film I identify with is Govinda Nihalani’s evergreen “Ardh Satya”. In many ways, it is a path-breaker. It talked of reality at a time when Bollywood was only peddling escapist fare. Most films until then had faithfully toed the stereotype of cops being either all white or all black. Even films like “Gunga Jamuna” or “Deewar” would fail to pass muster if you want to take a pinch of real life. In our life, no matter how upright or hardworking an officer, he would never be assigned the task of bringing a gangster to book when it is known that the gangster is a blood relative or a real brother of the police officer! Of course that has never dissuaded our filmmakers from showing one brother who takes the wrong path, always defies law. And the other, who grows up to be a policeman and comes face to face with his brother in the climax where invariably the call of the duty is greater than love for the sibling! Dilip Kumar and his real life brother Nasir Khan played pivotal roles in “Gunga Jamuna” while Amitabh and Shashi Kapoor were there in “Deewar”.
Political pressure
Coming back to “Ardh Satya”, the film touches my heart as a policeman simply because it deals with political pressure on the police. The film talks of an ordinary sub inspector – amazingly most of the cops on the big screen are usually commissioners! – who is driven by circumstances to compromise with the system. In a given situation like custodial death, he is forced to take recourse to politicians though throughout his life, he shuns politics. The film was also quite biting in how it exposed the fact that often the ground level officers don’t get credit for their good work and the higher-ups walk away with all the praises.
Another movie, I can relate to as a cop, is “Shool”, that Manoj Bajpai film. Again, the cop wants to work within the rules, he is honest and hardworking. But he is transferred many times because he does not blend with the system. It is like life where if you don’t toe the line, you are shifted, causing disturbance in family life. Surprisingly, more such films are not made. Also, no noted filmmaker has ever highlighted the problems of an honest police officer who is not into money making business. Only in “Shool”, did we see that the man has to be careful in spending money even on a rare outing with his wife to a local restaurant.
Company
Incidentally, our Bollywood directors are also guilty of showing all policemen alike. Beyond the difference between an extremely corrupt cop and a very upright one, the directors only tend to present Mumbai police. The difference in their behaviour and language, vis-a-vis say the Bihar police or from any of the southern states is seldom shown. In real life police is a State subject and the day-to-day working culture is different in each State. A policeman in Naxal infested area is trained and acts differently from a man from a metropolis. That way, Sudhir Mishra’s “Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi” was quite a bold film with its frank portrayal of the cops in Champaran.
However, films like “Hazaaron Khwaishen…” or “Shool” are few and far between. Throughout Hindi cinema has treated policeman in a superficial fashion. Even the so called landmark films like “Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai”, “Sholay” or later “Shakti” or “Karma” have never gone beyond the predictable. However, in the case of “Sholay”, one must say that the time it was made, such gang rivalries and the possible involvement of the policemen was a reality in the Chambal area. The depiction of the policemen changed post-1984. Until then the policemen were chasing dacoits as most of the crime used to be of that nature. But in the 1980s, there came about organised crime with the underworld angle thrown in. In cinema too a new lingo emerged and our filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap in “Black Friday”, Rajkumar Santoshi in “Khakee”, Govind Nihalani in “Dev”, Madhur Bhandarkar in “Page 3” and Ramgopal Varma in many films like “Shiva”, “Satya”, “Company” and “Sarkar”, etc. started talking of encounter specialists who could be on the payroll of a gangster, of cops facing political interference, of guys in league with the underworld. All that is exaggerated truth, but one cannot deny that such instances do come to light in real life too. But our films have often sacrificed depth for breadth which is not a happy situation to be in. An industry of extraordinary talents has quite failed to come up with many films that would be a testimony to the remarkable work of our cops. All that is stark contrast to the projection of our defence forces, who have got their due from the filmmakers. But when it comes to police, insightful works have been few and far between.
Karma”.
The filmmakers should listen to their heart while making a film. But it is also useful to listen to what people are saying. And the common man today wants his reality byte on the big screen.
(Arun Kumar is Joint Director, CBI. He spoke to our reporter in New Delhi)
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
