Page 62 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

Dalit-Bahujan

angle makes

Kaala one-of-

its-kind film

The movie has potential to
democratise the film industry
by carving a dignified space in
which the imaginative fiction of
the marginalized people can be
showcased without fear and
prejudices, writes harish s. wankhede

ery few would accept that of the dominant social elites of the film of ‘Dharavi’ and loved by its inhabitants.
cinema is a creative art form. industry that films like Kaala must fail at The counter to this earthy Kaala is
Filmmaking is an essen- the box office. It secures their hegemony the powerful authoritarian political
tial attribute of the modern over the instrument of cinema and keeps leader, Haridev Abhyankar alias Hari
V capitalist development that the audience bewitched with irrational Dada (Nana Patekar). He is the quintes-
attracts huge investments. A big budg- content. sential class enemy: disengaged from
eted film in association with a mega Kaala is crafted as a ‘masala’ enter- the masses, rooted in social ritualism
super star needs great attention by the tainer. It has all the possible ingredients and interested in ‘clean and pure’ urban
consumer audiences so that investors of a popular cinema, plus an extra spice development of Mumbai. The villain rep-
can make big profits. Only a good mass of Rajnikant, the Super Star added in it. resents the interest of the rich and the
entertaining film can guarantee a com- But that is at the periphery as at the core conservative mourning of the dominant
mercial success. Kaala, in its narrative it wishes to do something else. The film social groups. He detests Dharavi for be-
form, appears as a typical commercial categorically subverts the given genre of ing dirty and wishes to revamp it so that
flick made for mass entertainment. It is a popular cinema, breaks down borders the place can fit into his idea of civility
story of a mainstream legendary fighter and experiments with the narrative style and development. He instrumentalizes
that leads the poor people against the of mainstream cinema. What makes the the modern institutions (Police/Judici-
precarious actualities of urban life and film distinct is its subaltern political ide- ary/bureaucracy) to torment the poor.
the evil design of political elites. What ology. The director, Pa Ranjith, further re- His power and status gives him a hedon-
make it distinct and disruptive are its defines the giant stature of Rajnikant as ist psychological comfort that allows him
radical content, revolutionary language the new leader of the struggling masses to think that he is ‘born to rule’.
and alternative social symbolism. For the and makes him ready for the actual poli- Kaala defeats the corrupt design of
first time a mainstream film is presented tics. Thus it has a vision that counters the the powerful class with his heroic physi-
to the audience with a ‘Dalit-Bahujan’ conventional praxis of cinema making. cal strength, raw humor and the popular
perspective. Importantly, along with populist enter- support of the people. Kaala represents
Probably, this is the reason for its early tainment, it proposes an ideological en- the dark, poor precarious world where-
departure from the cinema halls. The au- gagement with social realities. as Hari Dada’s neat, clean, white milieu
dience is not yet ready for such radical Kaala is an epic retold in contempo- is used as a mask to hide his malicious
break in the narrative style of cinema. rary context of Mumbai. Kaala (Rajni- criminal psyche. Kaala claims that the
Our minds are still crafted for ‘mindless kant) is the ‘Bhai’ of Dharavi, who safe- ‘black’ is the color of laborious proletariat
entertainment’ and for not for an intel- guards his citadel with a private army masses and thus changes the meaning of
ligent, socially rooted, politically vibrant and die-hard disciples. He is also a family black metaphorically.
film. A grand success to such film would man with a loving wife, four children and What makes Kaala different from
have disturbed the cinema pundits in many grand children living in the same other masala flicks is its subversive at-
their routine jobs. It is in the interests house. He is an unquestioned protector titude while depicting the popular story.

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 62 www.Tehelka.com

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