RIFLE RANGE BOY: politician

Friday, 12 February 2021

The wheel of democracy moves on...

Newton (Hindi; 2017)

This movie is interesting because it is set in Chattisgarh, a state not usually featured in mainstream films. Chattisgarh is located in the East-Central part of India and is a place with a very long history. It is mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata and has seen many kingdoms rise and fall. The film's area is supposed to have been shot is Dakshina Kosala, the very jungle where Rama, Laxmana and Sita had undergone 14 years of exile in the wilderness.

Now that jungle is said to be filled with various minerals, everyone wants to lay their dirty hands. The Naxalites are roaming around with rifles while the ruling government want to appear to be doing the democratic thing. Come elections, all political candidates promise a new dawn of affluence and prosperity. In reality, what the politicians are really eyeing is the deal to get businessmen to mine the fortune in their land and get their cut of the whole transaction.

Towards this end, the whole machinery is oiled; the local clerk to the armed forces to the local chief and the occasional election officers who drop by. The world gets a very conflicting view of what happens on the ground - a polished version from the ruling party and a picture of anarchy from the defeated. The final losers are the local dwellers. Whoever comes to power, their position, for the people of this story, poverty and melancholy remains the flavour of their day.

India's entry to Oscar's foreign film category in 2017 is a light drama depicting Nutan Kumar, a conscientious government clerk, who is sent to a communist-insurgent infested region to oversee a balloting station. Nutan who is embarrassed by his given name christians himself Newton. He tries as far as he can to be an honest servant. Faced with a disgruntled army officer who is assigned to protect him and his team of ballot officers, he tries, against all odds, to oversee an election centre in the middle of nowhere where the last political leader was assassinated by communist terrorists. The electorate list comprises Adavaasis (aborigines) who are least bothered of voting.

All these for just 76 voters? Everyone says that every vote matters. Can a single vote actually make a difference? Apparently, it does. In 2008 Rajasthan Assembly elections, the Union Minister, CP Joshi was defeated by a single vote by opponent Kalyan Singh Chouhan (62,215 vs 62,216). Chouhan's wife later was found to have cast her vote twice. It was a disappointing blow to Joshi as he was a candidate for the Chief Minister's post. A petition was filed, but the verdict in favour of Joshi only came four years later; almost time for the next election.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Sunday, 22 November 2020

As old as history of mankind

Dukun (Witch Doctor, Malay; 2018)
Director: Din Said

In the early 1990s, the news of a gruesome murder appeared in the headlines of most Malaysian newspapers. The story of a politician chopped into pieces, of black magic, a small-time singer turned shaman with the elixir of immortality (she had claimed to be close to 100 years old), a smiling poser with something sensational to say during each court appearance was enough to excite the nation. Internet was restricted to the science fiction genre then. Hence, there was a dire need to whet the appetite of the general public who were looking for tabloid-like news to pass their time. The trial of Mona Fandey fitted the bill nicely.

An up and coming politician wanted to go places. Mona Fandey, who was a rave among certain circles, promised him invincibility through the sciences of the occult. He paid a deposit but what he got back was a severed head, his own. Enjoying being in the limelight, Pandey savoured every exposure to the camera flash. Without much fanfare, she was found guilty. Her appeals were rejected, and pardon from the royalty was denied. She was subsequently hanged in 2001.

Enjoying every minute of the limelight
Mona Fandey

The only things remaining of her legacy are her not-so-appealing songs, the memory of the murder she was convicted and this film, Dukun. Dukun was supposed to be released way back in 2007. Due to opposition from family members and the national film governing body, FINAS, it only hit the screens some ten years later with a caption that it is a work of fiction.

The fascination with Malaysians to the world of dark arts and black magic goes way back to a time before Abrahamic religions and its ideology of fearing the One God hit its shores. The National Museum realised this about ten years ago when it curated an exhibition on the 'Ghosts of Malaysia'. The board procured so many exhibits and paraphernalia towards this end. Just a couple of weeks into the exposition, it received orders from the religious bodies to stop the display immediately. The authorities were worried that the laypeople would be confused and hence deviate from their faiths as busloads after busloads of the curious public arrived in droves from the four corners of the country. That was the first and last time the National Museum had drawn such a crowd.