Showcasing the fourth estate

Journalism has rarely been depicted in a realistic fashion in popular Hindi cinema. Barring ‘New Delhi Times’ (1986) and the more recent ‘Peepli [Live]’ (2010), a film that got schematics of the functioning of present day television news channels right, the portrayal of journalists in mainstream Hindi cinema, has largely been stereotypical.

Ever since the onslaught of satellite television in the early 1990s journalism in films has focused on television as opposed to the old fashion print but even with hundreds of news channels and almost two-and-a-half decades since television’s proliferation there’s been no real change in the manner journalism is depicted onscreen.

It’s perhaps due to this trait that films about alternate media or journalistic endeavors that are off the beaten track are still a far way from attracting the attention of mainstream cinema. While one still awaits a contemporary film about social media or say a powerful WhatsApp group that takes on the establishment, ‘Aarop’ (1974), a film about a small town newspaper that becomes the only recourse for the common folk, warrants a re-look.

‘Aarop’ might not be in the same league as a ‘New Delhi Times’ or a ‘Peepli [Live]’ or even ‘Main Azaad Hoon’ but that shouldn’t be a reason to not consider it. Directed by Aatma Ram, also known as the legendary Guru Dutt’s younger brother, ‘Aarop’ features Vinod Khanna, Vinod Mehra along with Saira Banu and the iconic Rehman.

The film is set in a small place called Nandganj where Subhash (Khanna) runs an independent paper called ‘Mashaal’ dedicated to fighting for the rights of the common people. The film starts with Subhash being sentenced to six-month imprisonment for writing the truth about the nefarious plans of the local big-wig Makhan Lal Singh (Rehman).

Subhash refuses to apologise for writing the truth and on his way to the jail entrusts the paper’s daily operations to Ravi (Mehra), a lawyer and his friend. Inspired by Subhash’s fiery ideals Aruna (Saira Banu), the local teacher, joins the newspaper and soon Ravi falls for her.

The paper’s owner Dhondu (Johnny Walker), the sales manager Kuwarelal (Khesto Mukherjee) along with Ravi and Aruna manage the affairs but with Subhash in jail people like Singh and his moll, Kanchan (Bindu) are free to run amok. Even the city’s municipal corporation is hand in glove with the likes of Kanchan and remains mum when the town folk complain about her gambling den.

When Subhash returns he vows to shut down the gambling parlor as its addiction is ruining homes. Things go worse when Kanchan’s right-hand man Caesar (Gulshan Arora) burns down Subhash’s press and Makhan Singh entraps Dhondu in a debt and takes over his press and also uses his power to get both Ravi and Aruna fired from their day jobs.

The otherwise composed Subhash cracks and decides to kill Kanchan but before he can do anything someone bumps Kanchan off and pins the murder on him. How Subhash, Aruna, and Ravi fight back and find the actual killer forms the rest of the tale.

There is a certain honesty in ‘Aarop’s narrative that helps it rise above the trappings of being a typical mainstream Hindi film from the 1970s. There are hero-heroine songs as well as the standard comic set pieces courtesy Johnny Walker, Keshto Mukherjee and Paintal, who plays an ever ready photographer and an eager eavesdropper, and even three Bindu dance numbers, but ‘Aarop’ still, intriguingly enough, makes a strong statements about society’s moral corruption.

The film’s story or characters might appear dated today but their essence is surreally timeless. The scene where Subhash galvanizes hordes of people and leads them right into a city council meeting demanding a closure of Kanchan’s club lest people take the matter into their own hands could be shot frame for frame today and not look out of place.

In fact, through most of the film ‘Mashaal’ appears to be somewhat like Twitter or any other present day alternate media because it questions, challenges and at times even overpowers the traditional way of functioning. In many ways, ‘Aarop’s Subhash is precursor to the standard Hindi film journalist that became popular in the 1980s and the 1990s.

In their paper ‘From Romeo to Rambo: Popular Portrayals of Journalists in Bollywood Cinema’ Ruhi Khan and Danish Khan argue that over a thirty year period between the 1980s and now the popular depiction of journalists in Hindi cinema can be boxed into two broad categories.

In the first one the journalist makes powerful enemies and takes on the bad guys as seen with Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir (Ravi Baswani) in ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ (1983), investigative journalist Srikant (Shekhar Suman) in ‘Tridev’ (1989) and “Kalam wali bai” Megha (Dimple Kapadia) in ‘Krantiveer’ (1994).

While in the first lot journalists, more often than not, pay a heavy price and even die, the second group sees their work change the course of events and emerge triumphant like in ‘Guru’ (2007), or ‘Kurbaan’ (2009), ‘Kabul Express’ (2006) and ‘No One Killed Jessica’ (2010).

The microcosmic nature of ‘Aarop’s script perhaps owes its origin to the real-life documentary films that Aatma Ram made before he joined his more illustrious brother’s production house. Aatma Ram was based out of London for a few years and his affinity with global cinema, too, could be attributed for the ‘Ace in the Hole’ (1951) a small-town dynamics or the ‘Blow-Up’ (1966) like photo being enlarged to find a mysterious shooter from behind Subhash of ‘Aarop’.

The latter Michelangelo Antonioni tribute of sorts also forms an integral part of ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’. Today, the power of television news has transformed journalists into demigods but ironically when it comes to depicting them on film it’s still a scribe’s basic integrity that makes for a compelling tale.

‘Aarop’ has lots in that department made better by the presence of Vinod Khanna and topped off with an old Lata Mangeshkar-Kishore Kumar classic “Naino mein darpan hai, darpan mein koi...” (Lyrics: Maya Govind, Music: Bhupen Hazarika).

By: Gautam Chintamani