TheDaak review

By Sakshi Wadhwa

Abstract:

With no dearth of literature on elections in India, scholarly works on popular media and elections are also gaining traction. However, going beyond the relatively simplistic attempt at measuring the influence of popular media, especially cinema, on the elections, this paper explores the representation of the dynamics between political processes, elections, and the people and how in the processes of electoral politics, the people and their ideal leader get formed. While it is true that democracy is not limited to elections (also called electoral democracy), the objective is to take elections as the key variable and unearth the construction of the people and leader through cinematic expressions. In order to explore the same, two Bollywood movies, ‘Nayak: The Real Hero’ and ‘Bhoothnath Returns’, are selected. While the former is selected as a movie reflective of the direct political category where the movie primarily and directly addresses political issues which are coupled with songs to make it commercially viable, the latter is selected as reflective of the indirect political category where the movie subtly, in light humour, points towards a political issue. The basic theme of the movies concerning the dynamics of leadership, political processes, and the people appear to have some convergences that allowed for their selection in the same paper; however, there exist several differences, the time gap and tropes portrayed being a few. The purpose is not to lay out mere comparisons between the two but to show how the political matrix plays out in them, in their different storylines- the common themes of political processes, elections, and the people.

Introductory Note on Elections in India:

The significance of elections in democratic politics rarely needs an introduction. The exercise of voting, where people come out of their houses to the designated polling station to vote for the party or the candidate they are supporting, forms what is called a “communitas” (Banerjee, 2011). Collins Dictionary defines the word “communitas” as “the sense of sharing and intimacy that develops among persons who experience liminality as a group” (Communitas, Collins English Dictionary, 2024). In Mukulika Banerjee’s noteworthy work published in 2011 that dealt with ‘elections as communitas,’ she emphasised the activity of voting, in tandem with the expressive part of voting called the “theater of politics” where people vote as responsible citizens rather than merely to vote for making a party or candidate the winner (Tuck, 2008, p.2). Banerjee pointed out the creation of communitas begins from the weeks of campaigning and culminates on election day. (Bannerjee, 2011). The surfacing of democratic values during elections which are absent in mundane life, is what makes elections extraordinary to the people, and the celebration of those values with the hope that they might spill over into everyday life appears, according to Banerjee, to be a key reason for elections being sacrosanct in India. She, therefore, moves beyond the common logic of elections where people are driven to vote to make their favourite candidate or party the winner. The festive-like character of elections in India arises from the glimmer of hope that they provide for democracy, for the general populace to hold the reins of power through their vote and for that period, to oppose the depravity of political class (Banerjee, 2011). It can be argued that elections act as external stimuli to create communitas of the people disrupting the differences, inequalities, and lack of democratic ideals that mark their everyday lives. This does not imply that elections are devoid of social conflicts and symbolise everything well. Beyond the act of voting, elections in India are mired in the circumstances of diverse representation and the practice of electoral banks, which usually play on the differences based on caste, class, and religion. Questions of agency and electoral malpractices also characterise the act of voting itself. 

Finally, it can be argued that in democracies, elections and electoral politics play a significant role in showing the interaction between the people and their representatives in the most direct way. The movies analysed in the sections below reaffirm the cinematic expression of this dialogue between people and the leaders in electoral politics, prior to that, the next section will offer a brief overview of Indian cinema and its importance.

Overview of Indian Cinema and its Relevance:

In the words of Elizabeth Haas, Terry Christenton, and Peter J. Haas, “Movies are more than mere entertainment” (Haas et al., 2015, p. 53). Movies can impact people’s understanding of politics and even influence one’s political views. In cases where movies are simply dismissed as mere entertainment, it can also indicate ignorance of the movies’ influence on oneself which might be unknown to oneself. Some movies can be very persuasive and directly political, while others raise political issues in a more indirect way. Some can be assertive about their political positions, while others show their political positions more subtly. In both cases, political socialisation occurs when the audience is exposed to the politics portrayed in the movies. (Haas et al., 2015). 

The two movies this paper seeks to analyse fall into one of the two above-mentioned sides. While the first one falls into the second category by showing who a true leader is and how he should act, the second one belongs to the first category, where the movie watchers are introduced to the know-how of elections and are persuaded to vote.

The Indian film industry is one of the largest film industries in the world, rivaling Hollywood in terms of the number of films being made each year and in terms of the audience. Thus, the film industry in India cannot be considered trivial. The significance of cinema in understanding Indian society was taken note of by academics on a larger scale in the 1990s, with scholars like Ashis Nandy and Madhava Prasad writing on cinema, its influence, and socio-political life. Rachel Dwyer, first professor of Hindi Cinema at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), points out that “Hindi cinema deserves our attention, not just as a form in itself but also as the best and most reliable guide to modern India” (Dwyer, 2010, p. 381). 

Analysis of the selected movies:

Moving on to the other prominent discussions around cinema, the study of dominant themes such as nationalism and masculinity in cinema has been studied (Murty, 2009). Such studies focus on unearthing broader themes like nationalism in a film’s storyline and character portrayals. However, here too, the process of elections and the construction of people and leaders around it remains unexplored. This brief paper attempts to do just that, exploring the dynamics between electoral politics, leaders, and people amidst the electoral and political events. Rick Iedema pointed out two important features around which analysis of fiction films should be undertaken. First, the prominent conflict or problem waiting to be resolved and the resolution that the film puts forth. The problem-resolution dynamic poses the need for diverse ideas and imaginaries that allow the representation of various value systems in the film. Second, the characters and their actions (Idema, 2001). As Fiske (1987) has also put, analysis of characters is integral since it is through them that the social and personal discourses become apparent. 

Madhavi Murty has followed Fiske and Iedema’s approach to study the portrayal of nation, religion, and masculinity whereby both Hindu and Muslim characters along with the problem and its resolution being presented in the films, are analysed (Murty, 2009). This paper attempts to look at the characters and problem-resolution matrix in the differing contexts of the political process and around elections.

For Elizabeth Hass, Terry Christensen, and Peter J. Haas, “the most important and overarching aspect of the study of politics and film is the political messages that movies may transmit” (Haas et al., 2015, p. vii). Further, they also “stress the importance of recognizing the varying degrees of political messaging intrinsic to most popular films.” (Haas et al., 2015, p. vii). 

Each step in the filmmaking process is imbued with communicating the political message to the audience. The featuring of political messages can be either intentional, ie, the motive of the filmmaker, or a side effect of social realities the film is showing or both. The paper’s scope is, however, limited to films where a political message is intentional. Instead of unpacking each step in the filmmaking process, the key ones are focussed here, which are supplemented with Iedema and Fiske’s approach of emphasizing characters and the gist of problem-solution dynamics. 

The two movies taken for the study are ‘Nayak: The Real Hero’ (2001) and ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ (2014).

The rationale for selecting these movies also includes their political messaging. While the latter primarily deals with the electoral process in India in a more humorous way combined with some melodrama, the former caters to the ideal leader who emerges among the common people and solves their problems while fighting against corruption and corrupt politicians. In both the films, ‘the people’ are projected in useful ways. In ‘Nayak’, the people acted as a force behind the common man, convincing him to become a leader. At the same time, in ‘Bhoothnath Returns,’ the electoral process is highlighted with its provisions regarding who can contest elections and how party politics work. ‘The people’ feature here also, whose suffering pushes the ghost Bhoothnath to contest elections. More details on these movies will follow in succeeding paragraphs.

The two aspects of filmmaking adopted for analysis include: Production and the Plot conveyed through the screenplay. 

Screenplay and the story: An Analysis

Screenplay is the most prominent means through which the political message finds its way into films. Screenplay involves the critical elements of the film: the plot, characters, and the implicit message.

As mentioned above, political movies are no recent phenomenon in India. Unlike the case in American movies, where the convention is to not muddle into the political subject matter, in India many movies have been released with explicit political messages. In recent times, many popular movies revolving around the themes of nationalism combined with politically charged messages have been released, be it Uri, The Kashmir Files, or The Kerala Story. Even in the past, in tandem with the political atmosphere, movies like Peepli Live and Range De Basanti were released to highlight political evils. In American films, since political movies do not take centre stage, they are made interesting by supplementing them with other dominant genres like romance. In the Indian case, political movies with explicit political messages involve emotions and a tinge of melodrama, comedy or action in some form. Both movies selected here start with a lighter note and gradually move toward a gush of emotions. 

Coming now to the analysis of the movies, ‘Nayak: The Real Hero’ was released on 7th September 2001. Directed by Shankar and produced by A.M. Rathnam, the three hours long movie featuring famous Bollywood actors, Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukerjee, Amrish Puri, and Paresh Rawal in lead roles showed a common man becoming the Chief Minister for a day and exhibiting qualities of an ideal leader by leading people out of misery. The movie is worth noting since although it did not show elections in particular, it panned the camera on people and how their problems are resolved by one day CM, a common man, one among them who initially didn’t want to join politics. In the first half of the movie, the protagonist, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, played by Anil Kapoor, a young media person, interviews the Chief Minister, played by Amrish Puri, and questions him regarding his involvement in the riots which he and his team member had recorded in their camera. Flustered by the tough questions, the CM challenges Shivaji to get a feel of the difficulty of his job and offers him to become the CM for one day. This sets the stage for the story to unfold in which Shivaji does an exceedingly great job as one day’s CM by resolving people’s day-to-day problems, such as affordable housing and employment-related issues, and arresting inefficient and corrupt government officials, even arresting the CM himself. The movie then shows Shivaji’s struggles as he becomes the corrupt CM’s target, his advent to power, and the climax presents Shivaji as a genuine leader working for people’s welfare. The movie’s central theme is a committed and honest common man’s ascendancy to power by coincidence and his dedication to reforming the corrupt political system. The movie has songs and Shivaji’s romantic relationship with his love interest, an honest and upright village girl, Manjari, to mellow down the serious storyline. 

Crucial frames worthy to note in the film, apart from the coincidence that gave power to the common man, include how a devastated Shivaji Rao bounces back from the attacks by the CM, people’s love and support that led him to represent them and become the ‘Nayak,’ i.e. their leader. The scene after Shivaji’s victory when the empty complaint box symbolises his earnestness in resolving people’s problems. Even on the romantic trope, the protagonist, Shivaji, faces a challenge when his love interest, Manjari’s father, disapproves of him due to his coming into the profession of politics since it puts him at risk, though ultimately, the story has a happy ending with the father agreeing the two to be together. Finally, the political message of the film shows the greatness of a common man who has all the qualities of being a ‘Nayak.’ The movie also indirectly touched upon elections where the experiment of one day CM became successful and showed the failure of an elected CM who was corrupted by power. The success of one day’s CM led people to support the newly emerged promising leader who is then convinced to become a selfless politician, to go beyond his selfish interests and work for the people who are standing in his support. Regarding the character, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad is presented as a young and dedicated media person who had dreams of clearing competitive exams and securing a good future for himself and his family. His life took a turn after the interview with the CM and his great performance as one day’s CM. He ultimately chose the greater good of serving the people. A mixture of wisdom and courage can be seen in the character in the way he fought the assassins and did not step back once he decided to enter politics. The CM was shown as a shrewd and cunning old man, a power-hungry politician trapped in his own game who finally met a sad fate. The movie, however, emphasised the fight of an honest and young common man who wanted to work for the betterment of people against corrupt leaders.

As a cult classic film that completed its two decades in 2021, ‘Nayak’ was received well in its TV premieres to the extent that it secured its place among the most-watched films on the small screen. The movie registered many firsts, including being the first to have a South Indian style choreography, the first to use CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery), and 36 cameras working simultaneously for a single scene (Shekhar, 2021). With high technology incorporation and 3D action scenes, the movie fits nicely into the commercial movie framework. Apart from being a remake of its director Shankar’s Tamil directorial movie, Mudhalvan (1999), the protagonist of ‘Nayak’ was named Shivaji Rao, which was inspired by Rajnikanth’s real name, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. The film’s director was very fond of the superstar and kept the name in the Hindi remake also (Shekhar, 2021). 

The relevance of ‘Nayak’ in the present day is not only due to its political message but also due to its invocation, now and then, by political leaders and journalists. For instance, when former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Harish Rawat was subjected to criticism by the opposition for his hurried introduction of several government schemes, he said to the voters in his vote appeal, “Inspired by the role of Anil Kapoor in the film “Nayak,” I inaugurated more than 1800 schemes on a single day but this action was not to influence voters but a well thought exercise for the development of Uttarakhand as financial arrangements for more than 1600 schemes out of them have already been made” (Press Trust of India & Business Standard, 2014a) Further, in 2020, in the swearing-in ceremony of Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, there was a banner at Ramlila Maidan that showed Anil Kapoor as Nayak on one end and Arvind Kejriwal as Nayak 2 on the other end with Nayak 2 is back again written in the centre (Hindustan Times, 2020). 

In 2022, then Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan was equated with Shivaji Rao of ‘Nayak’ by a news report when Chauhan suspended a government official (telephonically) in no time for his inefficiency regarding Ujjawala scheme cards. In the movie, the protagonist also took immediate actions of suspension of inefficient and corrupt government officials (The Economic Times, 2022). 

In 2023, another media report equated West Bengal’s Governor CV Anand Bose with the protagonist of ‘Nayak’ when he took prompt action of talking to the Election Commissioner and informing him of a man being attacked by miscreants in 24 South Paragana. His actions, such as visiting violence-hit areas, launching peace and rapid cation rooms, and sending complaints to the State Election Commission, were viewed to resemble that of Nayak’s protagonist, who was swift and action-oriented (Misra et al., 2023).

Moving on to the second film, ‘Bhoothnath Returns,’ released on 11th April 2014, the film was directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced under the banner of T-Series and B.R. Films. In the second edition of the Bhoothnath franchise, the film follows a similar thread of bonding between an old man’s ghost and a young child, but the differentiating factor is the political message in the second part that revolves specifically around elections. 

Steered by veteran star cast of Amitabh Bachchan as Bhoothnath, Boman Irani as Bhau, and child actor, Parth Bhalerao as Akhrot, the film showed the ghost, Bhoothnath as the protagonist who goes back to earth to reinstate his fear as a ghost which is tarnished, in the first edition where he appears as a friendly and comical ghost to a child, Banku. As he returns to earth, he meets another kid, Akhrot who could see him and is unafraid of him. Getting to know him and his struggles as a kid residing in a slum, helping his widowed mother make ends meet, Bhootnath is taken aback by the corruption in the country and ultimately decides to contest elections. His struggle to contest elections by overcoming various obstacles becomes the core of the film’s second half.

Bhoothnath’s realisation of the people’s suffering is worth pointing out since he was no foreigner and had indeed stayed in the country. However, it is interesting that he comes to the realisation only after meeting Akhrot. This indicates the typical middle-class ignorance of the grassroot issues of poverty, malnutrition, and injustice that pervade the social and economically weaker classes. When he was alive, Bhoothnath also belonged to the middle classes. It required Bhoothnath to move away from the silo of his social position (even as a ghost he died as a member of the middle class) and closely witness the suffering of the people to understand their condition truly. This shows the superficial awareness of the economically better classes to the everyday painful struggle of those at the bottom of the economic ladder. 

The movie then traces the struggles of a ghost in contesting elections through which the audience is made aware of the eligibility criteria for contesting elections in the country, the positive points, and the loopholes. For instance, the Indian law’s requirement for the candidate to be a voter became a problem since Bhoothnath was dead. However, the non-issuance of Bhoothnath’s death certificate since his son refused to bribe the official and a vote being cast using his name in previous elections showed how the corruption helped Bhoothnath stay in the game of politics and contest elections. Through Bhoothnath’s dialogues and speeches, the audience is instructed to be vigilant voters who get their voter ID cards made and turn up to vote. The movie upholds a fairly instructive style, almost schooling the audience about the know-how of elections and the importance of voting. The ending takes a more emotional turn when the serious issue of candidates being murdered by other ‘powerful’ candidates is portrayed. Since as a ghost, Bhoothnath could not be killed, Akhrot was attacked by Bhau. The comic scenes between Bhau and Bhoothnath are praiseworthy and the movie’s pace from comedy to emotionally charged with the message being conveyed appears subtle and smooth. 

Regarding the characters in the film, Bhoothnath is presented as a friendly and honest ghost who has stage fright but is committed to working for the betterment of the people. Akhrot is portrayed as a witty child who is wiser than his age due to his difficult circumstances and supports Bhoothnath throughout even while risking his own life. Bhau, the villain and a dishonest politician is shown to be involved in dirty politics who, similar to the conventional understanding of politicians, is interested only in gaining power and can go to any extent for the same, even fighting against a ghost. Another important character in the film is that of the people, the ones who come to hear his speech and those who are convinced by Bhoothnath to get their voter IDs made through the new form of non-cooperation by asking people to turn dead ears to those who do not have their voter ID cards.

Owing to the similar thread of an invisible man (largely invisible ghost, to be precise) trying to help people, Nandini Ramnath finds ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ a sort of a sequel to Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Mr. India,’ showcasing a similarly well-intentioned and helpful man with the power of invisibility (Ramnath, 2014). For Ramnath, the focus of the movie is on the suffering of the underprivileged, and a call to respect their rights instead of keeping or shifting the focus to the middle class, which helps the movie stand out (Ramnath, 2014). It is worth highlighting that viewed from the eyes of Bhoothnath, the core character in the film, the underprivileged who constitute a huge section of the country’s population (in reality as well) became visible only when Bhoothnath encounters Akhrot (a street-smart kid who is a slum dweller) and sets foot in his part of the world. Another idea that subtly but confidently came across in the film, indicated by Ramnath, was the shift from Amitabh Bachchan’s portrayal as an Angry Young Man standing up for justice in yesteryear’s movies to a mature statesman who yet again shoulders the responsibility of leading the social change but in a different way  (Ramnath, 2014). The earlier image of Angry Young Man, who wanted to disrupt and overhaul the entire political system along with toppling away the establishment, gave way to a mature statesman who did not want to disfigure the political system but rather present his candidacy in compliance with the norms and legally challenge the corrupt veteran politicians. Capitalising on the mood of the country heading towards elections at that time, whereby people, in general, were frustrated with corruption, the movie did a fair job of building a story around the importance of voting against corruption and corrupt practices. The movie’s political message included a direct call for revolution through elections, i.e., change through a vote which was combined with the advocacy for a revolutionary leadership against the big-shot politicians already in the game. For Ramnath, the aspect of revolutionary leadership in the film hints towards the new and rising Aam Admi Party, which also claimed to be emerging from the common people, working for their advancement and fighting against the established politicians of the times who were embroiled in corruption  (Ramnath, 2014). 

For other reviewers like renowned film critic Anupama Chopra, while the movie is based on the great idea of a ghost contesting elections, it lacks the required narration (Chopra, 2014). Akhrot’s dialogue in the film, where he voices the advantage of Bhoothnath being a ghost and hence could not be killed, underlines the uniqueness of the film’s core theme along with hinting towards the normalisation of candidates being killed in the power struggle. For Chopra, the movie’s climax of a new dawn in India gives a suitable ending to the story by knitting together the hanging threads but does not save the movie from being simplistic yet loaded with preaching (Chopra, 2014). 

Another significant feature of the film that was left largely unnoticed was Bhoothnath’s pillar of strength, Akhrot-the kid who appeared mature much before his age- who took the responsibility of encouraging Bhoothnath to join politics and work for the welfare of the people. Akhrot’s role as a child taking responsibility for the betterment of the people indicates how children, though much neglected, become agents of change and wield enough will to persuade apathetic elders to wake up and take charge as active citizens. Akhrot’s witty dialogues where he first asks Bhoothnath not to overact but then approves of overacting since it has many takers in India are central to the film and indicate the observant nature of children who are observing those around them in much greater detail than the elders would expect. The strong presence of a witty kid, light humour, and the social message coming across more strongly in the second half is common in both films of the Bhoothnath franchise, however, the sequel can be seen tilting more towards a socio-political message with leadership, corrupt practices, the plight of the underprivileged and elections being the recurring aspects. The film was a slow starter and performed well at the box office later, the reasons for which include other political releases around the same time.

The two movies have some similarities, such as a reluctant leader, an ordinary young man in the case of Nayak, and a ghost in the case of Bhoothnath Returns. Their reluctance was converted into a passion to enter politics through the not-so-evident but crucial force of the people. In Nayak’s case, the people’s support convinced him, while in Bhoothnath, it was the people’s suffering that pushed him. In both cases, the supporting actors’s words of wisdom also encouraged the protagonists to take the bull by its horns. 

In terms of problem-solution dynamics, the problem of people’s corruption and misery was shown to be solved by a strong leader who was passionate about working for the people, away from the dirty politics that had been the norm. While a more happy ending is shown in Nayak, in the case of Bhoothnath it was kept a little low. Both are political movies that are commercial but have a social-political message, which is more instructive in the case of Bhoothnath and less so in Nayak. Both movies had an element of uniqueness, in Nayak, it was the one-day CM event, and in Bhoothnath Returns, a ghost contesting elections. Regarding characters, while Nayak showed a young hero and a pinch of a romantic relationship, Bhoothnath portrayed an old ghost bonding with a young kid with no romantic angle. The villains in both movies were shown to be the conventional politicians embroiled in dirty politics and lust for power.

Conclusion:

The paper traced the importance of elections and cinema and, further, elections in cinema to understand the relationship between political processes, elections, and the creation of the people. The two selected movies, with a gap of a good number of years between them, continued to show politics as a profession that is marked by cruelty and corruption.

In both movies, ordinariness is highlighted and appreciated, thereby indicating the purity of the commoners who are not conventional politicians. However, apart from the ordinariness, a difference can be seen in the projection of the leader. While ‘Nayak’ can be seen tilting towards support for hero worship, ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ was more instructive, where the sequence followed a more informative cum educational approach. The much-neglected aspect of both movies was the presence of a collective of people who persuaded the leaders to take the lead and represent their interests. The force of the people, their misery who were let down by the politicians, and their support for the newly emerging leader are noteworthy. The implicit presence of the people gave the leader the strength to fight against evil and remain pious amidst dirty politics. The movies therefore showed the ideal leader and the ideal people who should not step back from supporting the promising leader. In ‘Bhoothnath Returns,’ the scenes where the people are being schooled by Bhoothnath to vote communicate the same message to the audience, whose nation was up for elections in the same year. Finally, the relationship between political processes, elections, and the people was simplified by both movies by evading the more complex questions of active citizenship and, in fact, the lack of such a  sincere, dedicated, and flawless leader as shown in the movies. In terms of the portrayal of political processes and elections in cinema, it can be argued that movies with political messages have been a constant feature of Bollywood, and the filmmakers come out with new and interesting ways of building on political themes. The explicit presence of strong leadership and the implicit presence of the people continue to be recurring aspects while the storyline keeps evolving. The depiction of political and electoral processes does contain an element of truth coupled with other unreal and dramatic aspects to have an emotive appeal. The political messaging of movies, as reflective in the paper as well, can be both direct and indirect; while the former is easy to categorise under the broad genre of political movies, the same cannot be said for the latter, which subtly puts across political issues in symbols and layers. In any case, the relevance of the movies depends on their interaction and engagement with the audience. To better understand that, more research is needed to understand audience perception of such movies going beyond the mere box office numbers to determine the movie’s success. 

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