When you are studying
in one of the top B-schools of the country, you invariably get opportunities to
attend conferences, participate in different events and meet industry
stalwarts. You also get a chance to watch a yet-to-release movie and have a
tete-a-tete with the director himself. Mr. Vivek Agnihotri, the much-acclaimed
TV and movie director, columnist, blogger and a debater, was kind enough to
screen his new movie Buddha in a Traffic
Jam at SPJIMR, Mumbai.
The title of the movie
does not give out much of the storyline. But it is not difficult to guess that
the name is in fact, a metaphor; it is not just unusual but conveys a deeper
message. This movie is about how a smart management student studying in one of
the biggest B-schools in India and the world, with fresh and noble ideas, gets
entangled in the murky world of politics and corruption. The movie tries to
expose the sinister nexus between the Naxals, NGOs, academia and the acclaimed scholars
and their motives and does it in a quite unabashed way. It explores how
students in certain universities are systematically brainwashed to become
intellectual terrorists.
The movie also examines
the themes of moral policing, campus politics, plight of the adivasis living in
tribal areas and the middlemen who eat up all the money before it reaches the intended
recipients. The movie pokes its viewers by questioning whether India, a young
nation ridden with corruption and poverty, can indeed become a superpower with its
never-ending fight between socialism and capitalism.
The protagonist of the
movie, Vikram Pandit, played beautifully and confidently by Arunoday Singh
stands for Buddha, a learned person who has ideas and the zeal to bring about a
change in the society. But he can’t really attain enlightenment because he is
stuck in the traffic jam of bribery, dishonesty, socialism, capitalism, the
system and the establishment. Anupam Kher plays the economics professor, Prof.
Batki in a very understated but effective manner and the range of emotions he
shows in the movie look so effortless. Pallavi Joshi and Mahi Gill play their
characters with grace and poise, just what the film needed.
Many people staying in
the urban areas are not actually aware about the Naxalite movement. Maoism, the
predicament of the tribals and the off-the-limit Bastar region are topics which
we just read in the newspapers sometimes and ignore. I hope this movie starts a
healthy debate about the various themes that it covers and engages the
population that is not well-versed with these things, in meaningful
conversations. Not that everyone has to agree with what is shown in the movie;
we are a country where everyone has the right to voice his / her opinion (or so we think). But this movie should
atleast enable the young minds to think, read and talk on these subjects.
We have a society where
new ideas, new visions are not given a straight path to thrive and flourish.
This Buddha is looked at as an enemy of the society, someone who is challenging
the status quo and someone who needs to be taught a lesson before he sets a dangerous
precedent. This traffic jam needs to be cleared if we want more Buddhas to
emerge from our nation.
This corruption satire
has already received nominations and awards at various prestigious film
festivals around the world including Madrid, Jakarta, Mumbai and Jaipur. The
film’s promotional campaign under the theme #IAmBuddha has also started to
catch on.
A movie such as this
is hard to release in India; finding the distributors is a nightmare. Small
budgets don’t allow the movie to be strongly marketed; it deters the film from
reaching all its target viewers. A must watch for all students, their teachers,
the intellectuals and the establishment, this film is indeed one of the most
hard-hitting movies to come out so far this year. When Vivek Agnihotri in a
response to an answer said, “India needs freedom from mediocrity, inefficiency
and incompetence”, I couldn’t agree more. Kudos to the director who has dared to make a film on such a topic with utmost passion and sincerity. I hope this jewel does not get lost
in the traffic jam of Indian cinema as another fine movie which couldn’t reach
its audience.
