Lights, Camera, Polls: The Depiction Of Elections In Indian Cinema

Since Indian politics can be more melodramatic than Bollywood melodramas, this wasn바카라�t their only recent interaction. On the same day, talking to a reporter, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, 바카라�Have you seen 'Jawan'? In it, Shah Rukh Khan says to not give votes on the basis of caste and religion, instead ask the politicians if they바카라�d give good education and medical care. Only the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) asks for votes on the promise of providing education to children.바카라� If these two examples (out of many) show how Indian politicians appropriate Hindi cinema, then its filmmakers have returned the favour with similar flair, making enough movies on politicians, where the nuances of their origins바카라�the electoral process바카라�are missing.

This lack seems surprising. Bollywood directors have obsessed over (corrupt) politicians for long and the narrative of an Indian election바카라�blending rivalries, chaos, and victors바카라�has an in-built three-act structure, packing in enough 바카라�masala바카라� to satiate viewers. So over the last decade, following the dominant trend, filmmakers have captured that dramatic wattage in a language that comes naturally to them. In Thalaivi (2021), Raees (2017) and Bhoothnath Returns (2014), election campaigns come alive through charged songs. Cinematographic flourish, too, heightens the tension: via wide shots of politicians바카라� rousing speeches [Raajneeti (2010) and Madam Chief Minister (2021)] or close-up shots of inked index fingers [Gulaab Gang (2014) and Dasvi (2022)]. Some films, such as Thalaivi, concentrate so much on the theatrics of the election campaigns and their protagonists that the ends (political power) dwarf the means (the voters).

But none of these movies capture the granular detail of the electoral drama. Because they impose spectacle on the scenes of elections, as opposed to it organically emerging from the elections themselves. Beyond the ambit of the mainstream however, two Hindi films, a satire and a documentary, have shown the immense possibilities of this subgenre: Newton (2017) and An Insignificant Man (2017).

The former tells the story of a government clerk, Newton (Rajkummar Rao), sent to conduct polls in a 바카라�바카라�Naxal-infested바카라�바카라� village in Chhattisgarh. Unlike most panoramic sweeps of Bollywood elections, Newton shows the ant바카라�s-eye-view of democracy. It doesn바카라�t bemoan the corrupt 바카라�System바카라� either; instead, it deals in people: noble, venal, indifferent. And by probing the psyche of ordinary individuals바카라�each reacting to their own histories, prejudices and preferences바카라�it teases out the democratic, moral and philosophical dimensions of Indian elections. It also interrogates the meanings of 바카라�바카라�One Nation바카라�바카라� (when Newton바카라�s assistant, Malko, a local school teacher, tells him that the villagers 바카라�want independence바카라�from both바카라�, the State and the Maoists) and 바카라�바카라�One Election바카라�바카라� (when she tells him that the villagers, pressured to vote, are seeing the parties바카라� symbols for the first time).

An Insignificant Man, following Kejriwal and other party members for close to a year, captures the heady idealism of AAP바카라�s initial days. Structured like a thriller바카라�the title cards, at different points, function as countdowns to the 2013 climactic election바카라�it presents an immersive account of a fledgling political movement and the electorate바카라�s desire for change. The latter gives the movie its most poignant moments. At one point, a woman pledges her support for the party. What does she want? 바카라�Aadhar and ration cards.바카라�

Newton was a box-office hit; An Insignificant Man released in theatres바카라�a rare feat for an Indian documentary바카라�and had an eight-week national theatrical run. These two movies across different mediums show that meaningful political dramas, centred on elections, can be commerical successes. So why has Bollywood, over the decades, failed to capture its nuances? 바카라�Because nobody has attempted it,바카라� says Newton바카라�s director, Amit Masurkar. 바카라�Sometimes people have ideas, but they feel it doesn바카라�t have a market. So they try to replicate successful models.바카라� Less than two years after Newton바카라�s release, Mammootty-starrer Unda바카라�centred on the Kerala police in Maoist-dominated Chhattisgarh for election duty바카라�hit the theatres to widespread critical acclaim.

바카라�It바카라�s not just elections,바카라� says the director of An Insignificant Man, Vinay Shukla. 바카라�Hindi cinema hasn바카라�t really gotten into the mechanisms or institutions that much. So, for instance, we haven바카라�t made a good medical drama set inside a hospital.바카라� He cites the example of Court (2014), a 바카라�fantastic바카라� film diving into the 바카라�minutiae of courtroom proceedings바카라�, which was an impressive 바카라�reading of our society바카라�. Court unpacks what was long considered an opaque and callous 바카라�System바카라� through complex and flawed individuals. (In fact, countless Hindi films have shown the legal world in such a simplistic light that many movie watchers may mistakenly believe that witnesses in courts take oaths by touching the Bhagavad Gita!)

Many political dramas in Bollywood (where elections serve an ornamental purpose) have often pinned the blame on varied 바카라�Systems바카라� and their vile embodiments. This two-pronged, contradictory tension바카라�being political yet  apolitical바카라�further inhibits the representation of electoral realities. 바카라�A lot of [film industry] people just wanted to play safe,바카라� says Shukla, referring to the movies of the 1980s and the 1990s. 바카라�You had a lot of cash flowing into the business. But when your source of funding was itself questionable, nobody wanted to be caught on the wrong foot.바카라� The simplistic portrayals of villains, flourishing even in the subsequent decades, also produced dramas favouring 바카라�바카라�mobocracy바카라�바카라�, where vigilante justice is the only justice. Analysing Hindi films on elections in The Great March of Democracy (ed. S Y Quraishi, 2019), Meghnad Desai notes that their 바카라�depiction of politics바카라�, from the 1960s to 2010, has 바카라�become much more violent바카라� but has been 바카라�increasingly emptied of ideology바카라�.

Besides, a film industry devoted to the exclusive currency of select stars can hardly be interested in democracy. So, numerous Bollywood movies dealing with the cruelties of the political machinery often seek refuge in a generic saviour who 바카라�바카라�liberates바카라�바카라� the masses. It바카라�s perhaps why Khan바카라�s climactic monologue in Jawan, telling people to vote responsibly, comes only after he has solved all the problems. In that sense, Hindi filmmakers and Indian politicians share a distinct similarity바카라�that, despite their endless assertions, they care very little for those they claim to serve: the aam aadmi.

(Views expressed are personal)