SATYAGRAHA:Social Movement & Cinema

A Presentation by

Prof. Ram P Dwivedi

Reality Vs Imaginative

Imagination is essential to communicate the real.

Language is also a kind of imagination and so all art forms are like this

Cinematic imagination seems very real but it is similar to others

Cinema with Social Concern

ACHHOOT KANYA(The Untouchable Girl, 1936)

DO BIGHA JAMIN (Two Acres of Land,1953)

MOTHER INDIA(1957) DAMUL (Directed by Prakash Jha, 1984) LAGAAN (The Land Tax,2001)

Cinema: Art or Tool of Social Change

Art for art’s sake or art for society: An old debate(Marxism Vs Others )

SATYAGRAHA- Film / Movement This film has clear-cut impact from real

movements. Film Analysis:

Semiotics/Technical/Production/Marketing/Historical etc.

My Points of Discussion

1-The Plot/Story of the film as a mirror image of the happenings around the nation. If so, why it is NOT a documentary.

2-As an ART PIECE : Story, Characterization, Location, Cinematography etc.

3-Investment and Recovery. Audience response

An over all evaluation: You may agree or dissent

Understanding the Movement 1

Understanding Corruption (Give & Take) Crime & Corruption The Politics, Democracy & Public Protest Jan Lokpal (Citizens’ Charter /Public

Ombudsman): Demand & Necessity Government & its Hesitations: Reasons &

implications

Understanding the Movement 2

Scams in India Based on Media

Reports/Alternative Sources

Name Nature Year Amount Involved(Rs)

2G Political 2008 176000 Crores

Commonwealth Games

Political 2010 35000 Crores

Telgi Financial / Judicial 1992-2002 20000 Crores

Satyam Financial 2009 14000 Crores

Bofors Political 1989 16 Million US$

Fodder Political 1996 900 Crores

Hawala Financial/ Pol 1991 19000 US $

IPL Games 1996 18 Million US$

Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh

Stock Market 1991-92 &2001

4000+1000 Crores

1 Crore=10000000

Understanding the Movement 3

Anna Hazare & Arvind Kejriwal: Who are they?

Difference of Opinion: Reason & Division between them

Political Vs Social: NOT two different things.

Creativity, Imagination of a social movement

Social Issues in a film

Understanding The Title SATYAGRAHA: Meaning (Encyclopedia

Britannica )Satyagraha, ( Hindi: “insistence on truth” or “zeal for truth”) 

concept introduced in the early 20th century by Mahatma Gandhi to designate a determined but nonviolent resistance to evil. Gandhi’s satyagraha became a major tool in the Indian struggle against British imperialism and has since been adopted by protest groups in other countries.

According to this philosophy, satyagrahis—practitioners of satyagraha—achieve correct insight into the real nature of an evil situation by observing a- nonviolence of the mind, by seeking truth in a spirit of peace and love, and by undergoing a rigorous process of self-scrutiny. In so doing, the satyagrahi encounters truth in the absolute. By his refusal to submit to the wrong or to cooperate with it in any way, the satyagrahi asserts this truth.

SATYAGRAHA: The Plot 1

The film begins with arrival of a train at Ambika Pur (Small Town/ District) station.

Manav{Ajay Devgn}, a professional, capitalistic mind rich youth gets down and welcomed by his engineer friend who is brought up under guidance of his idealistic father, Dwarka Anand{Amitabh Bachchan}

Manav & Dwarka Anand (Dadu Ji) had a discussion over dining in which Manav defends new economy and making profit.

SATYAGRAHA: The Plot 2

Corruption makes a bridge to fall and conspiracy makes the the honest engineer to be killed in a road accident.(Satyendra Dubey-Bihar, 200)

Minister announces the compensation money which was not given to the family and finally Dwarka Anand slaps the commissioner and jailed.

Manav tries to bail out Dwarka Anand but he failed and in despair he mobilizes the common man with the help of Arjun Singh & his journalist friend Yasmin Ahmad (Kareena Kapoor).

SATYAGRAHA: The Plot 3

Due to pressure from all around Dwarka Anand is released and he comes to know that his son was killed because of conspiracy and NOT an accident.

He refused to take compensation money and asks the minister and the Commissioner to clear the pending files of the people within 30 days.

Manav is trapped and asked to leave the town but he distributes all his belongings to his share holders

SATYAGRAHA: The Plot 4

He returns back to the town but no one believes him any more. He clarifies his stand and the movement again gains momentum.

During the protest/ Dharna one person commits self immolation (real:Dinesh Yadav of Bihar State) & dies.

Protesters want to demonstrate with his dead-body which creates differences among the protesters but finally it was allowed

During demonstration the minister sends his goons and it becomes violent and firing from police kills DADU JI who says non-violence is his last wish to be practiced.

Finally minister is sacked and put into the jail and the public wins. An idealistic ending.

Reflections of Reality

Past: India Against Corruption/ Black Money : Anna Hazare/ Kejriwal/ Kiran Bedi & Baba Ram Dev

May Be: EGYPT & other countries movements

Present: The Brave Heart gang rape case of Delhi and public protest specially by Youths, students and intellectuals.

Future: Victory of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP-Common People’s Party) in Delhi Assembly Elections, Dec 2014. Now they run Delhi Gov.

The Limitations

Farmers’ protest Laborers wages and other issues The poverty Issues of Untouchables/ Tribes/Dalits Issues of Women & Children in a limited

manner (The advertisement: Children Reach 5)

Developmental issues in countryside/Villages (Road, Drinking Water, Electricity, Hospitals, Schools etc.)

Cinema of Upper Middle Class

All movements cited above were managed by

1-Media, particularly TV 2-Social media or Internet, particularly by

FACEBOOK 3-Mobile /SMS PARTICIPANTS: Youths, Students, Teachers, Advocates

and few Businessmen indirectly supported by JOURNALISTS.

Mobile Users 　Courtesy: WIKIPEDIA

Rank

Country or region

Number of mobile phones

PopulationPhones per 100 citizens

Data evaluaton date

-  World6,800,000,

000+7,012,000,000[1] 97 2013[2][3]

01 China1,227,360,

000[4]

1,349,585,838[5] 89.2

December 2013[4]

02 India904,480,00

01,220,800,

359[6] 74.9631 October 2013[7]

03 United States

327,577,529

310,866,000[8] 103.9

June 2013[9]

04 Brazil268,440,42

3192,379,28

7[10] 135.4August 2013[11]

05 Russia256,116,00

0142,905,20

0[10] 155.5July 2013[12]

06 Indonesia236,800,00

0237,556,36

399.68

September 2013[10]

07 Pakistan130,583,07

6188,854,78

1[13] 69.18December 2013[14]

08 Japan121,246,70

0127,628,09

595.1

June 2013[15]

09 Nigeria114,000,00

0165,200,00

069

May 2013[16]

10 Bangladesh

110,675,000

165,039,000

73.8September 2013[17]

Internet Users 2012

Courtesy: WIKIPEDIA

Country or area

Internetusers[2]

Rank Penetration[3]

Rank

 China 568,192,066 1 42.3% 102

 United States 254,295,536 2 81.0% 28

 India 151,598,994 3 12.6% 164

 Japan 100,684,474 4 79.1% 33

 Brazil 99,357,737 5 49.8% 86

 Russia 75,926,004 6 53.3% 81

 Germany 68,296,919 7 84.0% 22

Urban Centric

The movement was urban(Metro) centric BUT

The film goes to villages and towns.. One SCENE shows the farmers’ protest but

it is just referential. ISRJ 1997-2008 : Total Farmers Suicides

199,132 Arjun Sengupta Committee: 836 M people

live less than Rs. 20/day

Farmers’ Distress

Arjun Sengupta: Reportsource: http://odrf.wordpress.com/2007/09/01/836-million-indians-live-on-less-than-rs-20-a-day-ibnlivecom-videos/

An overwhelming 836 million people in India live on a per capita consumption of less than Rs 20 a day, according to the findings of the Arjun Sengupta report on the Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the Un-organized Sector. The report is based on government data for the period between 1993-94 and 2004-05.While the numbers rose by a staggering 100 million, the numbers of the new rich has also grown by 93 million. “Our survey is very scientific. The other poverty estimates looked at the absolute poor only but we look at different categories of poor,” Chairman, National Commission for Enterprises in Un-organized Sector, Arjun Sengupta said. So, who are the ones who have actually benefitted from the boom in the economic growth of the country?

India: The Largest Democracy Helplessness of common people. Democracy Vs Cartelization of Power Emergence of Regional Political Parties

as Black Mailers/Power Bargainers {character of MINISTER BALRAM Singh-Manoj Bajpai}

A Fractured Democracy- Caste, Region, Religion and Language

Need to Decide the preferences

The Film Prefers

Urban-Caste, region, religion & lingual barriers hardly matters.

Youth- Liberal new Generation [ JANTA ROCKS]

Journalists-Deadly Professional People Advocates & Intellectuals-They know the

reality and a strong will to change Private Service Class- Target oriented

Servants Mahatma GANDHI- is a natural leader of

masses (Peace & Non-violence)

A commercial Film

Off Beat/Parallel –Commercial/ Popular 1. The Budget ( Rs.79 Crore)2. Story3. Actors4. Location/ Set Design5. The Audience6. BOX-OFFICE

Bollywood Top Grossers Movies in 2013Bollywood

2013Box Office Positions

Movie Lead Stars DirectorsIndia Nett Collectionin Crores

1 Chennai Express

Shah Rukh Khan,

Deepika Padukone

Rohit Shetty 226.70

2 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika

Padukone, Kalki

Koechlin, Aditya Roy

Kapur

Ayan Mukerji 190.03

3 Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Farhan Akhtar, Sonam

Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Yograj

Singh, Rebecca Breeds

Rakeysh Omprakash

Mehra103.50

4 Grand Masti

Riteish Deshmukh,

Aftab Shivdasani, Vivek Oberoi

Indra Kumar 102.50*

5 Race 2

Saif Ali Khan, Deepika

Padukone, John Abraham

Abbas Mustan 102.00

6 Aashiqui 2

Aditya Roy Kapur,

Shraddha Kapoor, Shaad

Randhawa

Mohit Suri 85.40

7 Special Chabbis (26)

Akshay Kumar, Anupam

Kher, Kajal Aggarwal

Neeraj Pandey

70.00

8 Satyagraha

Amitabh Bachchan,

Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal,

Kareena Kapoor,

Prakash Jha 67.85

9 Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara!

Akshay Kumar,

Sonakshi Sinha, Imran

Khan

Milan Luthria 65.00

10 Raanjhanaa

Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor,

Abhay Deol

Aanand L Rai 62.75

boxofficecapsule.net

Cine Language & Movement

Satyagraha: The Idea

Personal Distress --------Social Distress Loneliness among Crowd or THE CROWD

IS ALWAYS LONELY. Failure of the Success Disappointment to Struggle Prayer to ACTION[Raghupati Raghav

Rajaram, humko karne hai kuch kaam] Greed of few can destroy an entire

civilization

Evaluation-1

The Director tried to balance the movie- Item song/Classical, Reality/Fiction, Documentary/Feature Film, Message/Entertainment

Indian Audience like the spice of MELODRAMA, DANCE, SONGS & ENTERTAINMENT and COMEDY

Evaluation-2

Irony of life: We come across many people but we remember only those whom we love the most or those we hate the most

Similarly we like the film which entertains us completely or which disturbs us completely

Unfortunately it failed on the both fronts, BUT Whenever we’ll try understand, to know about

the social/political/economic status and happenings of the 2nd Decade of India, this film is an essential reference.

THANK YOU