{"id":80713,"date":"2013-01-21T23:25:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-21T17:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=80713"},"modified":"2013-01-21T23:25:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T17:55:39","slug":"podcast-film-review-inkaar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/podcast-film-review-inkaar\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: Inkaar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ananya Borgohain<\/strong>
\nThe capital of the largest democracy in the world is a despicable abyss, which engulfs humanity every day with such a force that it leaves only the shallowest scars behind. December 16, 2012 was one such day when deplorable facets of humanity manifested in the appalling actions of six persons. Ever since, there has been an urgency to attune the society to gender sensitisation, to educate it on several forms of sexual harassment and equip with measures to control disruptions; ever since, we have witnessed substantial destabilisation of the collective conscience of the people as well. Sudhir Mishra\u2019s\u00a0Inkaar<\/em>\u00a0comes a month after the gangrape disaster and presents amusing conundrums concerning sexual harassment at the workplace. Rahul Verma (Arjun Rampal) and Maya Luthra (Chitrangada Singh), the CEO and the National Creative Director respectively of an advertising firm are entangled in an allegation of sexual harassment charged by the latter against the former.
\nThe film ostensibly seeks to locate the answers to significant queries as to what qualifies as sexual harassment and what the counter arguments for the same are. What is different about the movie is that the bone of contention is not a definite act of rape or the attempt to rape but a mundane power structure, of which, sexual politics is an internalised facet. Sexual harassment here manifests in the conversations, in an act of staring, in innuendos and so on and not necessarily in forcibly seducing the woman.
\nThe movie follows a non-linear narrative where both Rahul and Maya furnish their versions\u00a0through flashbacks in three days. It opens with Rahul\u2019s father (played by Kanwaljeet) presenting\u00a0the dictum to his child which more or less builds the genesis of the movie, \u201cWhen someone\u00a0denies you what is rightfully yours, snatch it from them.\u201d The movie is then entangled in a\u00a0consistent crisis of hierarchy, the dislocation of power and the blurring of the line of difference\u00a0between truth and scandal. Rahul grows up to be the ambitious, talented and successful genius\u00a0who meets his match in Maya. Maya, rightly named, is the temptress who is motivated, efficient\u00a0and candid. It is commendable how she holds herself in spite of the fact that the script does\u00a0not support her. Maya is mystical and complicated and her colleagues attribute her aura to her\u00a0alleged sexual liaisons with the authorities.
\nInkaar<\/em>, then, raises pertinent questions, such as, what\u00a0is the difference between playful flirting and sexual harassment? Can a promiscuous woman\u2019s\u00a0allegations of sexual harassment against her former lover be deemed genuine? What if it is the\u00a0man who is being harassed by the woman? What qualifies as harassment? Above all, it presents\u00a0one crucial scene in two different ways where both Rahul and Maya present their versions and\u00a0the audience have to see through what the truth (if any) is, much like how Akira Kurosawa tried to\u00a0establish in his masterpiece\u00a0Rashoman<\/em>\u00a0that truths are mere versions of people.
\nWhere the movie falters, besides unimpressive promotional campaigns, is its weak plot line.\u00a0The script has limited substance and towards the end, the grave issue of sexual harassment is reduced to an inconsequential status. Given the fact that the movie was promoted as a depiction of gender violence and unscrupulous sexual manipulation at workplace, the climax does not befit the cause it had upheld. There is a role reversal in the second half where the female gets an upper hand in the firm\u2019s decision making process, but that instantly takes a toll on her personal as well as professional equations. Her chauvinist boyfriend leaves her as an attempt to save his reputation, and her colleagues, mostly and not surprisingly, the men, resort to supporting the alpha male CEO. It defeats the cause of gender sensitising, and sexual harassment in general remains an ambiguous term though the narrative does expose us to amusing debates where tables are constantly turned and interesting twists are introduced. Mishra, in that process tries his best to provide an uncompromising, balanced view. There is neither the stereotyped damsel in distress nor the ruthless power-hungry male figure in this movie. The convoluted human relations as well as their complex emotions are the highlights of the movie, where things are more than what meets the eye.
\nWatch\u00a0Inkaar<\/em>\u00a0for the intelligent narrative technique employed, the rational, unbiased act of\u00a0story-telling and the occasional traces of dark humour. Watch it for the tropes used by the\u00a0director as well for seeing love in an eccentric, difficult form. The second half of the movie too,\u00a0begins with another \u2018dictum\u2019 by Kanwaljeet, \u201cIf I don\u2019t retort today, my son would cease to\u00a0take me seriously.\u201d The movie ends with a similar moral, \u201cIf someone proves you wrong, never\u00a0detach yourself from that person ever.\u201d Interestingly, though it is Rahul\u2019s father making the\u00a0statements, it is Maya who seems to inculcate them in her actions. Deepti Naval and Vipin Sharma successfully establish their presence and grip over their roles in the movie\u00a0with their intricate performances. If you read between the lines of the track\u00a0Khamoshiya<\/em>, you\u00a0might get a hint about what is coming your way. Another asset of the movie is its very title —\u00a0Inkaar<\/em>\u00a0— meaning an act of refusal, which is actually the most fundamental trope in the movie.
\nIt is in all genuine sense a unique love story which folds and unfolds itself within hierarchical\u00a0circumstances which victimises the lover.\u00a0Inkaar<\/em>\u00a0could be a misleading movie based on sexual\u00a0harassment, but as far as the screenplay, narrative and performances are concerned, they\u00a0definitely try their collective best to present an appealing product.
\nPODCAST<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Truth | By\u00a0Ajachi Chakrabarti<\/strong>
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