NOT AN ENTERTAINER!
By Eye TV India Bureau
Critic's I-view
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The Maharashtra government has banned the small-time but heavily promoted film 'Desh Drohi' on the grounds that it will escalate tension in the state. The film scheduled to release last Friday (November 14) was banned for 60 days after which another review would be held. However, the movie dealing with the issue of migrants in Mumbai hit the screens elsewhere on the scheduled date. Produced by Kamal Khan, a Bhojpuri actor who has cast himself in the lead is about a small-town migrant who comes to Mumbai in search of a job and gets caught in the insider-outsider issue.
But it's the film's timing in the wake of recent troubles that had the state concerned. You may recall that Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's estranged nephew Raj Thackeray's group named MNS has been targeting non-Marathis in the state. Keeping the MNS threat against non-Marathis in Mumbai in special, senior police officers saw the film at a special screening after which they gave a report to the government leading to the ban. Incidentally, the Censor Board had cleared it with few cuts. Consequently, this scenario has created a sort of curiosity as to what the movie is all about.
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Let's look at its storyline. The story fails to entertain though it may pass on a message to the audience about the north and Maharashtra divide, and its ill effects on the people. This is based on the prevailing political tension in India. The movie reflects this faithfully. However, there is a divided opinion about its impact on the viewers. While the people in the North appreciate it, others condemn it for widening the divide between the two regions of the country. Its producer-cum-lead actor Kamal Rashid Khan tries to depict the current political and social scenario that separates one region from the other. This lobby opposes the movie, and especially when the five states are undergoing assembly polls. In fact, the movie's promos had created a huge hype. Not being a big actor, Kamal Rashid Khan has not only produced the movie but has also played the lead role. Kamal Rashid Khan's promos of 'Desh Drohi' had become the talk of the town.
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The movie centers on a man from Bihar who comes to Mumbai with lots of dreams but eventually gets involved in a fight with anti-social elements and succumbs to death. He goes through a hell when he is abused, beaten up, and even politically manipulated. However producer Kamaal Khan says that it is a mere coincidence that his film bears what has been going on in Mumbai at the present time. He adds that when he shot the movie, it wasn't so and he had long back completed the film and it was pending for clearance from the Censor Board.
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Besides Khan claims that the film deals with the story of the protagonist from Bihar who struggles to free himself from the troubles inflicted upon him for being a north Indian and also depicts the influence of politics in it. Khan adds that there is nothing objectionable in the film and he has modified dialogues as per the instructions of the Censor Board. Truly speaking, the movie showing violent confrontation between immigrants and locals in India's financial capital is not a new phenomenon. This is to recall that only a few decades back, Bal Thackeray had raised anti-south Indian campaign. In any case, an average Indian needs to rise above regional feelings and develop a national outlook. If 'Desh Drohi' succeeds in imparting this message then the movie would stand vindicated.
Remember that its dialogues are redone to provide a sharp edge as per the current situations. Lead actor Kamaal Khan hasn't let down Kamaal as producer. What Gracy Singh is doing in this movie will sure make news?
