Lal Salaam

Prakash Jha is one such ‘showman’ who dares to think beyond the romantic flicks. . The unconventional idea of this ‘showman’ of bringing in  villages and Indian politics into mainstream cinema has proved to be commercially successful and has been able to reach the masses.

  His ability to interweave subject with the  character shows  his canny sense of understanding of the cinema. The insatiable appetite for perfection and detailing that the ‘showman’ does not fail to portray each time with his stories is yet again very much palpable with his recent release ‘ Chakravyuh’

The movie essays the menace of Naxalism and a range of associated issues,  Some of the issues being said, while others unsaid, ultimately leaves the final verdict onto the  viewers wisdom. The causes of this ever prolonged disturbance can be attributed to Left wing extremism, primitiveness of the tribals, landlessness amongst the tribals, land acquisition by huge multinationals, a trust deficit government  and domino effect of the Indian democratic system

The main theme of the story is left wing extremism spread  across 200 districts of India, popularly  known as ‘Red Corridor’. It is  premised on events in one such district of India and the naxalite movements in its vicinity. (To those whose knowledge on naxalism is little, it traces its origin to Naxalbari in West Bengal and ideologically adhering to Mao Zedong. Naxalities claim to spear head the crusade by instigating the   Indian peasants and lower class tribals to overthrow the government and upper classes by force.)

Forty years has elapsed and the social menace of Naxalism continues unabated and   the justice is yet to be met. The movement has continued, with marked changes though. Where land eviction by landlords, exploitation of sharecroppers and peasants, and caste oppression has been the earlier reasons for the movement,of late landlessness of the tribals has been the sole reason of such activities .. During the course of the movie the ‘showman’ has been conscious  of this shift, depicting it beautifully in 156 minutes

Power flows from the barrel of the gun and so we witness  the Naxalites and Police  outdoing each other. The poor and innocent tribals fear the naxals and ultimately naxalites enjoy the  undue advantage of having  tribals to their side.

The government is to be blamed itself for its deficits in developmental activities, exploitative character and inaccessibility.  The unholy nexus that exists between the capitalists and the statesmen also adds fuel to the fire. All these instances of ‘crony capitalism’ have distanced the government  from the tribals who now refuse to be the government’s eyes and ears in their counter naxal operations.

Displacement of tribals caused due to investment by companies in mineral-rich regions makes the issue of naxalism all the more serious.

This brings  us to the  question of land acquisition for non-forest purposes and rehabilitation of tribals. Inadequate compensation awarded to the tribals and complete negligence on their rehabilitation has aggravated the problem. It is in this context that even the armed actions of the naxalities to act as a saviour of the tribals, can be justified.

The protagonists of Government and Naxalites have their own justified reasons to be on their respective sides. However, the acting prowess of Abhay Deol and Manoj Bajpai in the movie convinced me of ‘Lal Salaam’ . In the end a nice movie, intellectually stimulating and sensitizing with the problems faced by the tribals, terror tactics adopted by the naxals and the ever exploitative government.