Hindi cinema doesn’t value subtlety. Hindi films are often screechy, didactic, and illustrative. Audiences are told how to see, think, and perceive. Cinematic moments are undervalued and easily abandoned. The intelligence of the audience is not trusted; perhaps not even cared about. A case in point is Lipstick Under My Burkha which had a crackling first half but descended into clichés post-interval. Remember the last scene? I haven’t seen anything more simplistic. Then there’s Simran , which is a disaster. A completely vacuous film, it fails to build upon the few sparkling moments it creates and does a shoddy job of showing the vulnerability of the lead character. When will we learn to make silence speak?
Masaan did that successfully. Have you seen that Varanasi before on screen? I haven’t. For similar reasons, Amit Masurkar’s Newton is a rare gem. It brims with subtle moments, and Rajkummar Rao delivers his career-best performance. Neither showing any high-pitched anti-Naxal rhetoric/propaganda (as was the case with Buddha in a Traffic Jam ), nor peddling poverty of the Adivasis in the Dandakaranya forest, Newton creates images to cherish. It is in this silence that perhaps lies its most forthright comment about the state of ill-being, which is already well known. If cinema is a visual medium, the key, not subsidiary, is image. Also, there is barely any violence in the film, which is remarkable. Its creation of a feeling of lingering trepidation is masterful. Do you have to show violence to represent or address violence? Newton says a resounding no. We see the central character studying in his middle-class home with an Ambedkar portrait on the wall. This says much more than any dialogue can. Our films have to enable such transmission of cinematic image to the audience. In the film, the Adivasis are asked by a bunch of mediapersons, what will change if they vote? With some reluctance, they say nothing will change.
Role of the supporting cast
The ending is one of the best I have seen in recent Hindi cinema. It leaves possibilities open, and before you know you have witnessed the end. We have been raised on films where something ‘concrete’ has to happen for a film to conclude. Newton ’s refusal to make things happen, or offer solutions on a platter, is praiseworthy. And what about subtlety of performance? This film thrives because of its supporting cast. Pankaj Tripathi as the manipulative military officer is stellar. Anjali Patil as the schoolteacher, Malko, delivers a consummate performance. Raghubir Yadav as election veteran Lokenath is indifferent to the ongoings. And then there are faces we have never seen before or routinely encounter on our screens — actors cast from the local milieu who make it all so believable and authentic. How dreadful it would have been to see supporting actors from Mumbai being implanted in the jungles of Chhattisgarh. Good cinema doesn’t need any sloganeering. It’s only cause is good cinema itself.
Kunal Ray teaches literary and cultural studies at FLAME University and writes on art and culture
