Movie Review: Indu Sarkar

Movie Review: Indu Sarkar
Rating: 3/5
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Cast: Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Supriya Vinod, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury

The story focuses more on Indu, the girl with Emergency playing the backdrop.  Coming from Madhur Bhandarkar, who boasts of films like Page 3, Traffic Signal and Chandi Bar, a more hard hitting tale was expected.

Madhur Bhandarkar seems to be taking calculated baby steps back to the time when he insisted on telling real stories as opposed to making superficial subjects seem real.  To this end, he even breaks with his usual formula of attacking and “unmasking” a particular industry and roots Indu’s (Kirti Kulhari) fictitious tale in the factual setting of the state of Emergency that the country was shrouded in from 1975 to 1977.

Bengali film actor Tota Roy Chowdhury, who has movies like Chokher Bali to his credit, delivers a realistic portrayal of his screen character Naveen Sarkar. Neil Nitin Mukesh as Chief does a good job in his limited role. I would also like to mention his makeup artist for bringing out the amazing resemblance to Sanjay Gandhi. Anupam Kher as Nanaji, the leader of a non-violent activist group is impressive.   This is perhaps Kirti Kulhari’s best performance. The actress who impressed us with her acting skills in courtroom drama Pink, once again shows what she is capable of. Kirti’s character Indu carries the film on her shoulders and so does the actress. More power to you girl!

Thanks to the protests and political pressure the film faced before its release, the story has been toned down to that of a girl’s fight against the system and how her life gets affected during Emergency.

Indu’s character appears to be a representative of those common people who raised their voice against the system after remaining silent for months until they could no longer stay silent. Indu is introvert so I don’t know if I can call it a transition of her character from a stammering and obedient housewife to a rebel.

Characters like Naveen Sarkar exist in all times and places who try to take advantage of a situation to fulfill their dreams and ambitions.

There is a reference to “Mummy” by “chief” but neither Indira Gandhi nor Sanjay Gandhi is named in the film. Neil Nitin’s physical resemblance to Sanjay Gandhi is interesting but for once he is not named or mentioned. His subordinates refer to him as chief.

The film has some very powerful dialogues like, “aur aap log zindagi bhar maa bete ki ghulami karte raho” and “Is desh mein Gandhi ke maine badal rahe hain”.

Indu Sarkar will appeal to the young generation of today who did not find Emergency as a chapter in their history books but are curious to learn about it. Also a lot of films have not been made on the topic. It’s a nice attempt by Madhur Bhandarkar, who is known for his wonderful style of storytelling.

However, I feel the period drama could have focused a bit more on Emergency instead of highlighting the story of one girl. A brave attempt although. The film makes the viewer think and educates them about the turbulent 19 months of India’s democracy, which a character from the film described as India’s battle for her second Independence.