Movie Review: Kaabil

I have this knack of torturing myself. Mostly this sadism comes to the fore when I get into theaters to watch films that dismay me. But this time, when I walked out of the theater after watching a much talked about film, it wasn’t disappointment that I was carrying. It was anger. 

 I am not a film critic, never been to a film school, and therefore this is not a film review. Also, I am not  'film literate' enough to criticize the actor or the director of Kaabil, because their body of work is something that speaks for itself. And that is the precise reason that I am all the angrier.  This was their chance to speak out, to stand by countless women; to take a stand. And they let it go. Because the hero in Indian mainstream cinema needs his ego to be pampered. 

 Kaabil talks about two visually impaired people that know how to love and live beautifully. And with two beautiful actors, Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam on the screen; why wouldn’t it look pretty? They lead successful and independent lives, meet through a well- wisher and eventually get married. Now, Yami who plays Supriya manages pretty fine. And then she meets Rohan (Hrithik), who is protective of her, and thus instead of the guide stick, Supriya holds on to Rohan’s arm. That is completely acceptable. We do that when we are in love. But we don’t get to see a narrative where the man holds the woman’s arm. 

  Supriya and Rohan’s world falls apart when Supriya is raped. The cops drag their feet on the case as the perpetrator is a local leader’s brother.  Now all that is completely realistic. It happens all the time. Supriya, however, is raped a second time by the same goons and chooses to end her life. And that is the reason for my angst.  The humiliation Supriya goes through is unfathomable. Thousands of women have and are going through it. But we need collective voices to resist and shame the perverts. Not give up. I know we have had unfortunate cases where the victim kills herself. But this is cinema and however much people say it is a frivolous medium, cinema is a very powerful too. And in India, particularly Bollywood cinema is like religion. The message of the victim killing herself is, therefore, unacceptable to me. Why wouldn’t she choose to live and fight and seek justice? How would a victim feel if she were to watch this? 

  As a preteen, I remember watching a lot of films, where rape victims would hang themselves from ceiling fans or jump off under construction buildings. I wondered if rape victims had only one way out. As I grew up I realized rape did not mean one received a death sentence. I learned about the courts and how women have fought and shamed the culprits. Here Supriya doesn’t get a chance to do that. But of course. How could she? This is Rohan’s revenge drama. For the hero to rise in him, the lady love needs to die. Are the makers serious? Rohan needs to beat up and kill people? Couldn’t the revenge be taken by a public shaming of the Neta and the brother? 

  We have courts, however, sluggish they might be. The makers had that one opportunity to talk about the legal system; they had the opportunity to let Supriya choose a new life. They had the opportunity to encourage countless such women to draw inspiration from her. But she needed to die. Because this is a revenge drama. 

  Had killing rapists sent out a message, we would have seen a change after each lynching. We would have seen fear in such perverts. We haven’t. Machismo will not change the way people think. Ending lives will not change things. Rehabilitation and strengthening the legal process will.