RIFLE RANGE BOY: Do the crime, do the time!

Nail Polish (Hindi; 2021)

In ancient China, India and Egypt, only the wealthy and royalty were allowed to don nail polish. It was a symbol of their status - the ability to show a set of clean fingernails, indicative that they have servants to do their dirty job.

When nail polish came to Europe, it was looked upon as a way to hide their dirty fingernails. Ill health, undernutrition and occupational hazards left them with ugly cuticles. Symbolically, the film's title, 'Nail Polish', refers to the shield we use to hide our inner ugliness. We also blanket our deficiencies and sadness by putting up a front to deal with the stress of meeting daily battles with a smiling face.

Court dramas just become more convoluted with movies of this nature. In a typical Bollywood show, the courts are often portrayed like cockfights or medieval marketplaces where horse-trading is being conducted. Everyone will be yelling on top of their voice. The decorum would be an unfamiliar word, and the judge would be a pusillanimous figure only fit to bang the gravel and utter 'proceed' or 'objection overruled' as story warrants. Not this one; it was a refreshing story with pleasing airbrushed scenery to the drape outdoors we are used to. The characters are not two-dimensional, but all carry their baggage and inner demons with them.

Veer Singh (a talented Manav Kaul) is a well-liked sports coach, a do-gooder and an ex-serviceman. When the burnt bodies of immigrant children were found, his name crops up as the suspect and is tried.

A high flying legal eagle, Sid Jaisingh (Arjun Rampal, after a hiatus) with political ambitions is assigned probably to increase his chances of climbing the party ladder, to defend him pro bono. Sid seems to have issues with his deceased father, probably have to fit into his shoes. We get glimpses of his failed relationship.

The presiding judge put up a majestic posture of composure, but in actual fact, he is terribly upset with his alcoholic wife and her unwinnable battle with the bottle. He soon realises that this case is no open and shut case. During his stint in the army, the accused let a life of an assassin, opposite of his current civilian life. Suddenly, this mild-mannered man is no ordinary man but a killer machine.

Things get complicated when Veer gets assaulted in jail in prison politics and sustains a severe head injury. His physical wound recovers, but he seems to have a different personality. Veer says he is a lady and starts giving a new narrative about her past life. The rest of the story is told in a relatively sober tone without much melodrama.

At the end of the show, the dilemma is whether it is ethically appropriate to punish a person who is now is different from his old self, i.e. before the assault. It is the mind that commits the crime; can the human being be blamed? What makes the person a human? Is it the physical body or the mental faculty? Is the accused using the psychological exclusion clause to 'nail polish' himself from the crimes he committed?

A riveting, thought-provoking court drama worth the time spent.