When the Fence begins to
When the Fence begins to Graze
Last month it was Anniyan and this time, Viruddh. So, there is total system failure and the individuals stuck with it have to deal with it at an individual level. Now, making it a grassroots thing, will make the movie a flop like Swades because Mohan Bhargava was ensuring the empowerment of the Lalaji as well as the Adivasi, not just him being called a grand hero (though it crept in with all the cheering when the light bulb goes on). So that makes us get back to the "hero" Amitabh Bacchan here. The son's ghost cannot emphasise it enough. Once more, there is a killing for justice and the judiciary dismisses the case as justified killing under conditions and the hero goes home scott free. So what is the message here?
It is ok to take the law onto your hands as the system has failed you and the system will commend u and apologise for not doing its job, but it will not commit to looking within and effecting a change. When Mr. Patwardhan asks the court who is responsible for the crime, there is no answer. And the audience goes home with a superficial satiation of having justice rendered.
Individual responsibility at every level within any given system is lacking all over the world. As the middle class increases its consumer spending for material satisfaction, ecological responsibility and social responsiblity are sacrificed. Supra structures like insurance companies and governments step in as systemic structures that take on the collective responsibility of individuals, making the individual a "napunsak" (Eng:neutered) (as the police officer says in the very 1st scene). Unfortunately, it is these very individuals who make up the systems in turn. Thus, we are caught up in a vicious cycle of individuals aborting their responsibility taking cover behind structural systems so that nothing can be pinned on them and blaming the system as it is so anonymous. In all this, the common denominator is money- large sums of it that cover the butts of the individuals in the guise of liability insurance etc. and as that has not caught on in India yet, it will get manifest as physical loss of life and corruption. The former fomat makes it all so legal and justified, and clean while the latter is so illegal, brutal and messy. And today's growing Indian middle-class wants just that- cover for their butts, may we call it a class clean-up act rather than a class action suit?
All in all, a magnificent portrayal of this dream called life. Amazing.
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