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Aarakshan

An angry exchange of words erupts between newly appointed junior lecturer Deepak Kumar (Saif Ali Khan) and his mentor and college Principal Dr Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan).



The former hurls a pointed question at his senior: "What is your position on reservation?" The latter responds in kind but refuses to answer. That's perfectly in keeping with the underlying spirit of Aarakshan. Words, words, and more words… but no clear pronouncements! So don't expect any answers from Aarakshan.



Prakash Jha's highly anticipated film isn't really what the title might suggest: a sledgehammer drama about a simmering political issue that has never been addressed before in a mainstream Hindi film. Instead, it's a rather safe, superficial and simplistic take on an extremely complex theme. The film lets off steam, and generates some smoke, but the fire is missing.



Given all the pre-release brouhaha over its emotive subject matter (leading to several states banning its public screening), Aarakshan is quite a copout.



It ends up being more about the depredations of the nation's education mafia than the vexed question of job and college quotas for backward caste candidates and its fallout.



The basic premise is rooted in the real world all right and the film might touch some raw nerves. But the dramatization of the conflict over the quota raj that divides India down the middle tends to border on the excessively shrill, if not completely shallow.



A good teacher and a bad teacher–-a hero and a villain cast in the classic Bollywood mould-–fight a bitter turf war on the campus of a sprawling college called Shakuntala Thakral Mahavidyalaya. The conflict trickles down to the level of the students, who get sucked into the vortex like a bunch of willing but misguided foot soldiers, sparking off violent disagreements between the two groups.



The Supreme Court ruling upholding 27 per cent reservation for OBCs is alluded to and treated as the spark for two of the film's most dramatic confrontation scenes – the one mentioned above and another one between Deepak Kumar and upper caste student Sushant Seth (Prateik), who also happens to be the son of a member of the private trust that runs the college.



And, then, Aarakshan bails out of the danger zone. Essentially, the film is structured like a run-of-the-mill good-versus-evil drama where the characters are convenient cutouts, each representing a particular line of thinking, rather than tangible figures prone to psychological ebbs and tides.



So we have a math professor who is perched on a horse so high that he might have been better off in the Vatican. He doesn't speak; he delivers sermons, as if from a pulpit.



He has a wife (Tanvi Azmi) who believes that he is a "real hero" in a world full of "cowards" and a daughter (Deepika Padukone) who is doting, dutiful and forever ready to spring to her dad's defence. And, of course, this picture wouldn't be complete without the suave college topper raised by a low-born mother who worked as a maid in the homes of the wealthy.



And there is the crafty, creepy college staffer who is so smarmy that he could give Mogambo the heebie-jeebies. But for the measured skills of Manoj Bajpayee, who digs his teeth into this dark persona with great glee, Mithilesh Singh would have been just another evil madcap.



In this scenario, words fly thick and fast like bullets as the gunfights of a conventional potboiler are replaced by verbal fireworks. A thriving coaching centre housed in a property that the upright math professor has been duped of and the college principal's chamber stand in for the den of the baddie.



The R word is uttered several times in the first half, but the political ramifications of reservation are only touched upon in passing and then quickly discarded as the film shifts into morality play mode and the protagonist sets up a classroom for the poor in a cowshed.



The second half is another film: the title is forgotten and Aarakshan dives into a plot woven around the ageing protagonist's battle to rescue his students from the clutches of the greedy men who have turned education into a money-spinning racket.



The bad teacher tells the good teacher in one scene: "You were a zero, are a zero, and will always be zero." The tables are expectedly turned on the villain by the time the film comes to an end. By then, Aarakshan stops adding up.

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"Aarakshan" gives a hurried yet comprehensive walkthrough of the educational system and sub-systems that currently exist in India.

It takes the issue of educational quotas as the basic plot and makes an attempt to comment on the premise of education as a means of politics, as an industry or as a higher end in itself.

The story revolves around the principal of an educational institution Prabhakar Anand (played by Amitabh Bachchan) who lives by certain rules and is willing to give up his job rather than be pushed around to accept a bribe or a student who does not have the required marks to gain admission.

Resentment begins to simmer with close friends turning against each other because they belong to different castes and therefore feel differently about the Supreme Court's verdict on an increase in quotas for underprivileged sections in jobs and educational institutions.

Mithilesh Singh, a casteist to the core and an astute, greedy teacher in the same institution catalyses the situation to his own benefit, and pursues a personal agenda against Anand after having replaced him as the principal. Manoj Bajpayee does complete justice to Mithilesh's character.

Anand and his family go through increasing turmoil while students Deepak Kumar (played by Saif Ali Khan) and Sushant Seth (played by Prateik Babbar), play key roles in portraying opposing outlooks on the quota issue. Both Kumar and Seth lose faith in Anand, falling out with each other and with Anand's daughter (played by Deepika Padukone) — their classmate and Deepak's lady love.

Anand resolves to fight back without violence, armed with a handful of students in a cow shed. He is happy to teach for free but won't take casteist as a label. Tanvi Azmi plays Anand's loyal pillar-esque wife to whom he turns to when in doubt.

The movie has its quirks — it seems to zig-zag through many parts, with noticeable abrupt cuts, especially in the first half. There's too much happening. Two songs near the beginning of the film seem out of sync and unnecessary. The movie borders innumerable times at being preachy, but manages to steer out soon enough.

The screenplay is woven well with a mix of sometimes heavy and near-heavy dialogues. Interesting use of levels to symbolise caste difference and later Anand's fall from grace. A good mix of actors who render, thankfully, absolutely no over-the-top performances, except sometimes the heavy dialogues in Saif's creamy voice do sound strange.

"Aarakshan" manages to use the basic plot to comment on key things such as political agendas that add fuel to the caste politics fire. Slightly heavy, but an interesting watch. It is ironic the movie is being banned in those states where the demand for quota is the highest, since the movie aptly — without taking sides — brings you the scenario created in a world with reservations.