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about Bhagat Singh and his band of Aarakshan (2011):
revolutionaries. When one of their friends,
an air force pilot, is killed in a military
airplane crash, the group, already inspired
by the story of the freedom struggle,
protest against the corruption that allowed Image Courtesy: hollywoodreporter.com
defective aircraft to be sold to the Indian
armed forces. Their peaceful march is
violently disrupted by the police, the
boys resort to assassinations, and finally The movement against caste-based
take over the studio of All India Radio to reservations had in its time captured the
broadcast the truth to the public. The boys imagination of the country. Prakash Jha
are killed but spark public demonstrations picks contentious issues that have been
against corruption. plaguing his home state of Bihar, and
sometimes other parts of the country. In
Peepli Live! (2010): this film, he tackles the reservation issue.
There were calls to ban the film, but it did
not actually take a stand for or against. It
did, however, raise the equality flag and
make a case for reforms in the education
system. The upright principal of a college,
Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan) is
seemingly in favour of reservation, though
he is actually in favour of education and
Rural poverty and farmer suicides is equal opportunities for all. The film
a recurring issue that has not received whipped up enough drama, and at least
adequate attention in Hindi cinema. It showed that sometimes Bollywood can
is to the credit of Anusha Rizvi that she come out of its cocoon, and Saif Ali Khan
chose to make a realistic film set in rural can be miscast as a Dalit student, and carry
India and saw it from the point of view of off the role with ease.
media insensitivity and venality. Natha
(Omkar Das Mirpuri) and has no way Satyagraha (2013):
to get his desperately poor family out of
debt. He is told that the government gives
compensation to the families of farmers
who commit suicide, so he decides he will
sacrifice his life for his family. A journalist
overhears and soon there is a media circus Image courtesy: aambar.wordpress
outside his door, wanting to capture the
suicide live. The film is a satire on political
corruption and apathy—even the whipping
up of public sympathy does not really Prakash Jha’s film has at its centre,
change anything. Dwarka Anand (Amitabh Bachchan), an
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #62 | AUGUST 2024 13
