Musings of 1084

Yesterday got a chance to watch ‘Shaurya’ (Courage), a Hindi Movie by Samar Khan. It seems to have got released on April 2008, and worth to mention, a disaster in Box office. This unnoticed movie has only got mention about the alleged plagiarism with ‘A Few Good men’ in web and it’s surprising to see no other analysis on its subject. ApunKaChoice.com is only worried about the plagiarism and puts the tag as fairly watchable without any justification.

Samar Khan is not Manirathnam to hide the inspiration of the movie. He puts it quite honestly in his interview to NDTV.

Yes, the skeleton of the film is A Few Good Men. But I’ve changed everything around. Where in A Few Good Men did they talk about Kashmir and the Muslim identity? It’s like comparing Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. They’re both about the end of the world. But so different.

I think what he is says perfectly fine. Not only the plot but the treatment and the message are different and the movie sounds truely indigenous and creative. I would say the allegation is primarily motivated to do away the disturbing questions raised by the movie. Even if the movie is a copy of something it is thousand times better than the so-called originals of Bansalis, Johars and Chopras. The plot of the movie as given in imdb follows.

Shaurya, revolves around the lives of two close friends, both lawyers in the Indian army.Maj. Siddhant Chaudhary(Rahul Bose) and Maj. Akash Kapoor(Javed Jaffrey).Siddhant is defending and Aakash is prosecuting a soldier,convicted for killing his commanding officer.An unwilling participant at first, Siddhant only begins to take his role as a defence lawyer seriously when he meets a spirited journalist Kavya who makes him realize that the case is not as simple as it seems and that the life of the soldier lies in his hands.

In the course of his investigation Siddhant encounters Brigadier Pratap(Kay Kay Menon), a highly decorated officer with a narcissistic sense of power and fixed ideas.The convicted soldier, Javed Khan, remains mysteriously silent while incidents and testimonials pile up against him. Making a just resolution to the case seems unattainable.

When Siddhant unravels the mystery behind the silence of Javed Khan, he finds that Javed is not a murderer but the saviour of a 6 year old girl from the hands of a monstrous Army Officer Rathore who fell to the bullet of Javed. What follows is a crusade for truth which demands courage and getting the real culprits punished. But it confines within the limits of court hall. In a subtle manner, for the first time in silver screen, the movie underlines the atrocities of Indian army in Kashmir and the arrogant justifications of officers like Brigadier Prathap. The composed argument of the movie on the prejudice against Muslims and the credibility of the so-called fight against Terrorism in Kashmir discomforts ordinary Hindi movie viewer who is showered with Jingoistic filth like Gadar etc.,

It is a well-known, implicit rule that Indian army seldom admits Muslims in its ranks. we often hear Sangh enthusiasts proudly proclaiming it. There comes the the last lengthy dialogue of Kay Kay Menon or the ‘Hitlerian’ speech, which brings the Col.Purohit of Malegaon blasts in flesh and blood to your eyes. Kay Kay Menon reminds Daniel Day lewis with his acting par excellence and at times hijacks the entire movie with his strong persona. I am not convinced with the portrayal of Siddanth as all the innocence that are shown very well gets washed away in the training years itself but that is negligible . But the story has a lacunae as its narrative grows on expected lines which makes it seem lagging at times but it has got to do with form and not the content. These technical black spots cannot be the reason to neglect the strong, loud and clear political message of the movie.

Samar Khan cries out his soul in the Interview, which is the message that echoes in the movie and shocks the Hindutva conditioned psyche.

We don’t confront anything that’s uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that the Indian Muslim is living in a very real crisis. What you see in Shaurya is born of a very private anguish. It may not be on an obvious level. But it’s there. If I praise the performance of the Pakistani cricket team, a look would pass around the room. But if anyone else said it, it wouldn’t be noticed. I don’t want to be known as a Muslim. I want to be known as an Indian. Unfortunately in these troubled times that we live in, it’s become embarrassing to be Samar Khan. Why is it that a Khan is asked to prove his patriotism in this country while a Jha is not? Why do I’ve to wear my patriotism on the sleeve? Isn’t it enough that I am an Indian? These are questions that have always troubled me.

The accused Javed khan in the movie puts the above in one line to Siddhanth.

“Sir, mein apne naam ka karz chuka raha hun”(I am paying the price of my name.)

We are happy to see that atleast in Hindi film industry such bold measures are in shape which tell the stories revolving around muslims as lead characters and deals with views contrary to the official line. Thanks to my bong friend who recommended the movie or else watching the poster, i would have simply skipped it as yet another Military melodrama. Samar ends his Interview with these lines.

I honestly feel if we keep closing our eyes to what happened to Gujarat then the Muslims in India will end up getting a dose of Nazism. Yes, Shaurya has made me a more politically aware creature.

We are ended up with doses and doses of Nazism and Counter-Nazism. And yes, Shaurya definitely helps us too to be more politically aware.

I came across a comment in Rediff which is giving a near to every minute update on Mumbai Happenings. The comment by one Mr.Bolo India follows.

Raj Thackrey!
by Bolo India on Nov 28, 2008 02:13 PM  Permalink

Guys pls give me raj thackrey and Narayan Rane’s number…don’t know where hide when all this happen. Where are their goons?…they are required in Taj and Oberoi because Army & Navy & NSG have denied participating on account of alleged regionalism of Mr. Thackrey…Waise bhi Raj ke goonde bahut kudatey hain….unhe oberoi aur taj ke top floor is kudao…militant ko maar gheerane ke liye!

I Reached to Raj Thackrey’s number. I have given the full transcript of our telephonic chat below. for the sake of readers, I have given the transcript in English as you all know he speaks only shudh(pure) marathi.

me: Hallo is it Raj?
Raj: Who’s this?
me: I am 1084 who writes a blog. can i speak to Raj?
Raj: Where r u calling from?
me: aamchi mumbai sir. but am i speaking to Raj?
Raj: ya, go ahead. but tell me do you have any links with any TV or magazine?
me: no sir.
Raj: what do you want?
me: I want to ask one question sir.
Raj: will you publish our chat?
me: No sir, it’s for sure.
Raj: okie. but be sure of not publishing it. if you publish you know what will happen. i mean generally we are non violent but my men go out of my control often.
me: oh..no..no sir…whole country knows sir..who will dare to?
Raj: okie. but strictly one question.
me: okie sir.
Raj: okie. proceed.
me: Sir, it’s not my question alone but every one is asking. Where is Raj Thackrey and MNS activists(for heaven’s sake, I was speaking to Raj Thackrey. I cannot use the correct term goondas) when Mumbai is under attack after all they are the proclaimed saviours of Marathis?
Raj: See the problem is not for marathis but for outsiders like US, UK citizens. so it is for their country men to fight and not MNS.
me: ??? but sir there was a shoot out in bazaar and hospital too, in which ordinary maharashtrians got hurt and killed.
Raj: That’s where the problem starts. The panwalahs from bihar have occupied the bazaar. They lured the innocent marathis to come to the bazaar. so it’s very big conspiracy.
me: That’s mind blowing sir. no one did thought in this angle.
Raj: ya, actually there is the problem. except me nobody thinks of the dangers that are engulfing Marathis from outsiders. but i strongly condemn terrorists for taking the foreigners as hostages.
me: That’s the spirit sir. i always knew that you are against terrorism.
Raj: ya, but that is not the crux of my statement. See, when they come all the way to Mumbai through boats with so much plans, they should have held Mumbaikars as hostages and not foreigners. That’s why we are fighting for ousting outsiders. Hence we are going to conduct a bandh tomorrow protesting for the Marathi right for being hostage. we want our share and we will achieve it. actually our brave cadres are secretly preparing  to barge in to Taj and protest to the Terrorists face to face demanding the right to held us as hostages.
me: !!??? That’s bravo sir…
Raj: Okie. We have a meeting on the issue. It’s time.
me: Ok Thank you Sir. Thank you for enlightening me.

Now Bolo India, you were saying he is hiding.. see how veer maratha(Brave Maratha) our Raj Thackrey is… Sorry Raj sir. I have published the transcript even after your warning. Actually I couldn’t bear people hurling abuse on you when you are secretly preparing for such daring attempts.

Jai Maharashtra!
Jai MNS!

While watching the blood boiling images of Mumbai, cynically I got reminded of Vidya Balan saying “Good Morninnnnnnng Mumbai” in Lage Raho Munnabhai and sadly sighed on the bad and horrific morning mumbai is facing with. I have least intetions to vent out my angst as i don’t believe in such writing. But what has happened is really breathtaking. I am not much concerned about the elites who got killed or about the praised uniformed men whose credibility is debatable, but i was shocked to see the images of the indiscriminate shooting in the street from the hijacked police vehicle and a man shouting writhing in pain with his bullet pierced hand.

This callous and brazen act of the so-called terrorist organisation and the way in which this drama has unfolded reminds me of the Parliament attack of BJP rule. I couldn’t help myself getting the doubt whether it can be an act to do away the focus the recent malegaon blasts trial is drawing. The trial first of its instance by which for the first time in their history, Indian media houses are touching the henceforth untouchable word, Hindu Terrorism. The timing, the precision of targets, for example the killing of Hemant Karkare, the chief investigator of malegoan blasts, and the unofficial reports of CBI officers getting killed which wouldn’t have been possible with out an intelligence link and leak tempt this guess. But we cannot pursue more in this guess, as we don’t belong to the goebbels school of thought efficiently practised by golwalkar school of barbarism.

Now we are in a fix. It has become extremely tough to expose and attack the Hindutva venom in the minds of majority hindus with the overshadowing recent attacks, which are in real, the political as well as physical suicidal attempts of so-called mujahideens. The so-called holy warriors are indeed putting the lives of crores of muslims in danger for whom they claim to revenge which is sheer rubbishness. we can very well guess the lok sabha elections will definitely favour Lal Krishna Advani and  with the glooming world economic crisis, saffron will darken the country atleast temporarily. Tough days are ahead and with resent we need to accept that we can expect more bad mornings. Hope progressive forces of Mumbai will help the ordinary people in this troubled day and it’s time the real revolutionary forces of this country switch the gears and fight against the fascist backlash that is to follow.

Image Courtesy: Mumbai Metlogs

Enforced Identity

Some days before i was having a chat with my colleagues. one of my senior colleague whom i have noticed for his saffron stance in true spirit on many chats was conveying his angst on Kashmir. It was like hearing emotional Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti activist. I started quite politely saying Kashmir is a complex issue and taking a stand is a step which requires more understanding. I told him about the plebiscite which was proposed by UN in 1948 and how both India and Pak Govts have been successful in denying the self-determination right of the Kashmiris. He got furious and started the same old wine of the atrocities on Kashmiri pandits. I replied him quoting Arundhati Roy from her article, “Land and Freedom” in which a Kashmiri woman mocks the indian indepence saying,

“What kind of freedom do we have now? The freedom to be raped by Indian soldiers?”.

There was a momentary silence from my colleague but he followed with sarcasm, “Arundhathi roy is not an indian at all. she says we should give away Kashmir. let we give away Kashmir and roy together to pakistan .” The ultra patriots who have no insight of Kashmir or who don’t want to know, as it might hurt their black and white jingoism always encounter arguments in this away. Their active counterparts do it more vigorously just like what they did to Prof. Geelani. But the truth always hits in the face and the threads of this harsh reality from a woman’s life given below by Harsh Mander tells the agony of lakhs and lakhs of Kashmir. Some days before Srilankan Premier Rajapakse told the media that they will very well take care of the Srilankan Tamils as they are his own citizens and how can he bomb and massacre his own countrymen. Well Mr. Rajapakse, your masters, the Indian state has perfected in this art for 60 long years in Kashmir and this kind of doublespeak is not new to us.

…

The threads of life: Story from the Valley

HARSH MANDER

Through the vicious cycle of violence that has gripped the Valley and wreaked havoc in her family, a slender thread still binds Shameem to her life…She does not know whether such an ordinary life — of peace and the quiet happiness and honest toil — will be within reach of even her young son.

There are dark evenings when middle-aged widow Shameem trudges down to banks of the river Jhelum, which flows not far from her home in a village in the mountains of Kashmir. She ties stones to her body, and contemplates suicide. She longs for rest and solace in the only place left where she feels that she can attain these: the cold lap of the river bed. But she is held back each time by thoughts of her young teenaged son, unsteady of mind and body, who was a baby when his father was killed at point blank range in front of his children in his home.

Shameem did not suspect initially that her husband Ghulam Mohammed had joined the militants in 1991. There were many times when she found his bed empty at night, but he told her that he was tending patients. He ran two successful medical stores. He also left home for days at a stretch, but assured her that this was part of his duties with the State government where he was employed as a medical assistant. Those were the heady early days of the insurgency, when militants were celebrated as freedom fighters. They were turbaned and feted in many homes before they left for training camps across the border.

Frightening predicament

Three years passed this way. It was when army soldiers first brutally raided their home that she discovered that her husband was a militant. One day Ghulam shared his frightening predicament with his wife. By that time, the militant groups had fragmented into factions, some of which had fallen into murderous blood feuds with other groups. Ghulam’s own splinter group had been reduced to a minority, and he feared that insurgents of other factions would take his life. Shameem’s father counselled that his only hope was to surrender to the army, and become a counter-insurgent renegade, or what they locally called themselves: ikwani (which translates ironically into “brother”).

The ikwanis were bitterly hated by the Kashmiri people. Armed by the security forces, they became a law unto themselves, arbitrarily looting and killing like brigands whom none could control. But it was still only with the protection of the powerful army that they believed that her husband had any chance of survival, and Shameem therefore persuaded her husband to surrender to the army. Her father arranged for him to meet the local commanding officer. Ghulam was given arms and a security guard by the armed forces.

In this way Ghulam desperately held onto his life, but late one night in 1995, the militant faction ambushed his home, raining bullets and grenades during a four-hour gun battle. Ghulam returned fire, and ultimately survived the attack. However, the gun battle left dead his young daughter and Shameem’s younger brother who was visiting, as well as four other visiting renegades. His older son was badly injured.

A year later, he was walking in his orchard when he was shot at again. His security guard fell dead, and Ghulam’s leg was pumped with bullets. Harrowing months followed as Shameem struggled for medical care to save the life and the leg of her husband. Later, after three surgeries in Srinagar, the doctors pronounced that they had no option but to cut off his leg. “I loved him a lot”, Shameem told us simply. “I could not bear to see him suffer this way”. She resolutely sold all their orchard land, and took him to Delhi for prolonged treatment. She spent Rs. 7,00,000, and ultimately he was able to walk again, although with support. While they were away, Shameem’s father and other brother were also killed in their home.

When they returned to their village in 1998, Ghulam hobbling on his crutches, he published an advertisement in the newspapers, begging everyone for forgiveness, publicly breaking his links with every organisation he was associated with in the past, and pleading for another chance to only quietly live. But one night, he was visited at his home by his unforgiving militant former comrades. They ate his food, but while parting, they pounded his other good leg with a burst of bullets. His little daughter who witnessed the encounter recounts that he called back the departing militants, unbuttoned his shirt, and shouted that if they had to kill him, they should do it in one blow, not bit by bit. “We have sold our lands and all our belongings. How will my family look after me now? If you will not let me live”, he pleaded, “shoot me in my heart”. This was his one appeal that they heeded. They fired into his chest, and he fell dead in a heap before his distraught young daughter. His younger son was also in the room, but still a baby.

Lonely life

For many years, Shameem laboured in people’s homes and farms to feed her children, but she could herself eat sometimes once in three days. Eventually, as the widow of a surrendered militant, Shameem was employed in a government job as an office peon. But the family was ostracised by the village as renegade traitors. Her teenaged son Aftab disappeared one day returning from school. She learnt later that unable to bear the burdens of the stigma of being the offspring of a treacherous ikwani, he had joined the militants. He was all of 13 years old at that time. But he was mortally frightened and could not redeem himself as a freedom fighter. He returned to his mother, further shamed and utterly defeated, one night just three weeks later.

Shameem now was afraid not just of the militants, but also the army, as she was not just the widow of a renegade but also the mother of a “militant”. She felt that her best bet was to hand her boy over to the Kashmir police. “At least they are our own people”. They held the boy for a few months before returning him to his mother. Since then, he just lost his mind. She hoped in her desperation that he would heal if he married, and she found him a bride at the age of 14 years. He is 19 now, with a four-year-old son. But none of this has brought him peace. He does not study or work. He has taken to drugs and alcohol. He often gets into a fury, breaking what he can in their home. The Special Task Force of the army picks him up periodically, and a year earlier returned him with a broken leg.

Binding thread

The thread that still binds her to life is her younger teenaged son, who was a small child in the same room when his father was killed. She has lost to the cycles of violence that have engulfed the valley for three decades nearly everyone she loved in her life: her husband, her daughter, her father, her two brothers, and — although he is alive in body — her older son. It is in her withdrawn, timid and unsteady youngest child that she invests her last hopes and dreams.

She wanted an ordinary life: a loving spouse with whom she would raise her children, and let them free to the world as good human beings when the time was right. It is the tragedy of her homeland that even this humble aspiration was so completely unattainable for her. Indeed she does not know whether such an ordinary life — of peace and the quiet happiness of a family and of honest toil — will be within reach of even her young son: the slender thread who still ties her to this life.

Coutesy: The Hindu