The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A reality check of prison life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 08, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A reality check of prison life

Film: Jail

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Manoj Bajpayee

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar

Madhur Bhandarkar’s journey into the dark corners of society continues. This time, he stops at a jail to give us a reality check. It is ultimate ignominy for many to spend even a night in prison, but more than a lakh are forced to spend sleepless nights for years in our jails without being proven guilty. Parag Dixit (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is one of them.

A young chap rising in life gets caught in a drug peddling case courtesy his roommate. Apparently, the evidence is against him and there are not many to stand by him apart from his girlfriend (Mugdha Godse) and his mother.

As Parag is sent to judicial custody, Madhur opens a closed world for us. It has its own hierarchy and currency. Yes, the jail has its own currency where if you have those valuable ‘coupons’ you can have all the worldly pleasures within the four walls. You can even go out to add to your criminal record or in some cases create one.

Slowly but surely, Madhur drills into our conscience that it could happen to anybody. Through a series of plots he questions whether jail is for reform or a ground to germinate criminals or resentment against the system. The tardy legal process takes so long to deliver justice that the sense of right and wrong begins to blur — particularly when the illegitimate goings on are cocking a snook at your patience. Some like Ghani (Rahul Singh) fall for it. Some return from the brink.

Convincing act

Neil has lived the emotional turmoil of Parag. From an upwardly mobile executive to the fear of being in an unknown world where he is packed with hundreds, Neil is convincing. For once a mainstream director has portrayed Indian courts in a realistic fashion.

As always Madhur draws liberally from newspaper headlines. Despite an immaculate build-up, ‘Jail’ lacks the gritty feel and pace of ‘Chandni Bar’. If the episode of Ghani makes you reach for a handkerchief, some of his characters are sketchy and come across as deliberate additions to add to the waning meat in the middle.

We have a rich brat charged with mowing down innocent people on the street and another put behind bars for his relations with the Naxals. All this has already been milked by the media. Manoj Bajpayee as the well meaning Nawab has nothing much to add to the proceedings.

After a point the script loses its sting and ‘Jail’ is reduced to a dramatised case study on the Indian prison system.

A.K.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh