Showing posts with label Naxalite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naxalite. Show all posts

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

A peek into 1960s West Bengal...

Arohan (Ascent, Hindi; 1983)
Director: Shyam Benegal

imdb.com/title/tt0083575/

This movie serves as an eye-opener on the political changes in West Bengal. After the East India Company handed over administration of its prized colony to the British Crown in 1858, following the Sepoy Rebellion (also known as the First War of Independence), Calcutta was designated as the Capital of India. The crown built many learning institutions to help the natives aid in the British Raj administration. 

The British realised their mistake in 1905 when Lord Curzon partitioned the region of Bengal into two parts, the West and East, which later became the basis of the Partition of India. The erudite society was also very argumentative and resistant to the colonial government. 

This combative demeanour continued with their son of the soil, Subhash Chandra Bose, who was unceremoniously forced to resign from the Chair of the Indian Congress party. His militant, perhaps left-leaning approach to seeking self-rule was in tune with Gandhi's, as well as the British and the INC's approaches to independence. 

The post-British era saw the leftist movement remain active, particularly through academia and among disgruntled workers. The period from 1967 onwards was seen as the Communist 'golden era'. CPI-M took a stronghold on the running of the State. From 1977 through 2011, the CPI-M Left Front ruled the State. To be honest, in the first ten years, it achieved notable success in land distribution, agriculture, universal education, poverty reduction, and societal restructuring. Slowly, nepotism and misrule crept in. They were highly successful in deterring foreign investors and were primarily responsible for the relocation of many multinational industries and factories. Bengal's loss was another state's gain, e.g. Tamil Nadu. In 2011, Trinamool Congress defeated the Left Front with the support of rural Bengal.

The movie highlights the cruel transition period in rural Bengal circa late 1960s, where the poor sharecroppers are caught between the greedy landlords and the Naxalite movement. The initial arrangement was for the sharecroppers to pay a portion of their harvest as rent to the landowners. Hard times hit the sharecroppers, and they approached the landlords for loans. The illiterate peasants are cheated through one-sided agreements that they cannot read. They are instead employed as wage-earning workers. The younger ones among them head to the city, but go astray after being cheated blind.

The sharecroppers are also harassed by the Naxalite movement, which encourages them to rebel against the landlords. Amidst all this, there is the most violence, upheavals, and unending court trials that never see the light of day. The story is told in a melodramatic manner. In the parallel cinema of India, the movie portrays the plight of a poor farmer and his extended family during these trying times. It depicts the cruel turn of events for family members who migrated to the bright lights of Calcutta, only to face worse living conditions and disastrous outcomes. In the leading role, Om Puri won a National Award for his part.


Sunday, 31 January 2021

It had always been self-interest, not altruism.

Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2014)
Written and Directed by Vivek Agnihotri

What would Buddha, being a pacifist, would do when he is caught in a bad traffic jam? Instead of cussing and cursing explicitly or under His breath, He would probably, wait patiently, not to upset the already tense atmosphere, but instead deal the situation calmly. Mere mortals around him would probably jump at the chance to pounce on his non-aggressive way of handling his machine to squeeze to ahead by at least a few cars. For mere mortals that would mean a big deal, they would retaliate, but not Buddha. 

The storyteller is trying to equate the Adivasis (aborigines) to Buddha whilst the capitalists and the communists as mortals try to bribe their way to usurp the Adivasis' rightly owned lands for personal interests.

For a movie that Agnihotri had so much difficulty trying to secure financial backings from the movie stalwarts in the initial stage and abandonment by financiers later, it sure did fan a lot of excitement, protests and even riots. It is said to have popularised the term 'Urban Naxalites'. It was the academia where it hurts the most. For a long time, people in higher learning institutions have been looked upon as socialist, leftists or communists' sympathisers. Many have been accused of joining the breaking India forces to cripple the nation from within. Even during the Raj era, educated locals would wag their tails to the beck and call of their colonial masters. They continued as sepoys, and now as journalists, academics and God-men continue their dog and master relationship overseas and even in India.

Even though this film had repeatedly been dismissed as trash by mainstream media and online reviews, one wonders why it obtains raving reviews from others. It hits out at the leftists who have spread all over the institutions of higher learning. With their revolutionary and anti-establishment way of thinking, the young are the most suitable targets to lay their red agendas.

The capitalists are no different from the socialist in the way they expect the masses in their agenda of making money. Nobody actually cares for the underprivileged and the marginalised. It is just dollars and cents.

The films tell of a group of free-spirited MBA students challenged by their professor to develop a business model to help an NGO sell aboriginal pottery. It is allegedly to be siphoned back to the community for their upliftment. The protagonist realised that the setup is a sham to hoodwink the government subsidies for their private coffers. Helping the tribes is the last thing on their mind.

A refreshing look at the real world of philanthropy. It is filled with revelry, intoxication and hedonistic entertainment at the expense of the poor. It had always been self-interest, not altruism.

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