Cast: Vivek Gomber, Vira Sathidar, geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Bipin Maniar, Panna Mehta,
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
Rating: * * * *
A spell-binding expose of the Indian judicial system, Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut feature has all the markings of a great cinematic experience. The script’s understated moorings sheds light on topical issues and also satirically mines the caste , class and communal divide inherent in Indian society while bringing into play an engaging and completely riveting courtroom drama that sticks closely to the real and gritty.
Strongly blended in irony, Tamhane’s narrative tells us about a Dalit activist’s tryst with the law on issues of abetment of suicide and sedition-both charges which attract severe punishment and doesn’t allow for a provision of bail. Narayan Kamble(Vira Sathidar), a former mill worker and once-upon-a-time labor leader, now part-time tutor and travelling social activist/ bard finds himself in the dock for having performed a song in public, at one of the working class localities – that exhorted gutter-workers to kill themselves by entering sewers unprotected from the poisonous gases within. Two days later a municipal gutter-cleaner was found dead in a sewer. The act is assumed a suicide and Kamble is charged with abetment of suicide under IPC Sec 309. What follows is a bizarre series of courtroom mechanics that exposes the loopholes in the justice system and brings into question the very tenets of the law, outdated procedures and selective jurisprudence. Juxtaposed alongside are everyday nuggets from the lives of those involved with the case- including the Public prosecutor Nutan(Geetanjali Kulkarni), the pro-bono defense attorney Vinay Vora(Vivek Gomber, also producer) and the principle Judge, Sadavarte(Pradeep Joshi).
The film in fact works brilliantly because of those asides that strongly point out the gaps in empathy and understanding within the class, caste and communal divide. Those breaks from the courtroom that lead into lives outside, lend texture and depth to the narration. Vora, has the money and the amenities that support an elitist existence-yet he is far more empathetic to Kamble’s plight while Nutan, the prosecutor, who leads a very middle-class existence, is so unaffected by Kamble’s dilemma that she’d rather get the case over with while facilitating his putting away for 20 years. Nutan has the typical parochial mindset and is given to reading out archaic Victorian era law with not so much as an expression. Tamhane treats us to a brilliant , note-pperfect breakfast table conversation at Vora’s parent’s(Bipin Maniar, Panna Mehta), home where he visits on weekends. It’s a sequence that lends lightness and strength to an other wise largely somber narrative. Tamhane sets the ending in anti-climax mode by following the shutting off of lights at the courtroom, indicating a month long holiday recess –to the judge’s family and friends having a picnic at a nearby beach resort. Many might feel that it was an unnecessary transgression but that coda actually stirs up an irony highlighting the rather startling revelation that the dysfunctional justice system is far more interested in sticking to procedure and books rather than rendering justice. Court successfully highlights how patently ridiculous charges can be used to discipline and harass activists- a phenomenon that is become all too common in India today.
Gomber, Kulkarni and Pradeep Joshi are lifelike in their portrayals and manage to stay integrated even with non-professional actors in the frame- like Usha Bane who as Sharmila pawar , widow of the deceased, is simply outstanding.
Tamhane and cinematographer Mrinal Desai deploy unhurried rigid frames as a means to highlight the legal paralysis afflicting the judicial process. The color coding is exceptional and the transitions from elite households and their fave haunts to struggling lower middle class localities is startling.
The only memorable and realistic court-room drama before this was ‘Mohan Joshi hazir Ho.’ Now we have another sterling product to crow about. ‘Court’ is a film that hits hard without seeming to be and that’s the beauty of it. Get courting folks. You really cannot afford to miss this one!
