‘Aarakshan to revive reservation debate’

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The film Aarakshan, which deals with the reservation policy in the education sector, has stirred up a controversy before its release this Friday. Directed by Prakash Jha and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan, it has angered Dalit and backward caste politicians who claim the film is anti-reservation. Jha and his team point out that the film has been cleared by the Censor Board without any cuts.

Anjum Rajabali, the scriptwriter of the film, says that this “menacing trend” of demanding to see a film even after official clearance will “reduce our freedom of expression”. Rajabali, a former journalist, began his scriptwriting career with Drohkaal, which he wrote for Govind Nihalani in 1994. Four years later his film Ghulam, with Aamir Khan, gave his career a fillip and Raajneeti (2010), for which he wrote the script, screenplay and dialogue, established his reputation as one of the most original, credible scriptwriters in Bollywood. In an interview to Sidharth Bhatia, Rajabali talks about Aarakshan and says people should focus on the film, not the politics of it.

What is Aarakshan about? We know that reservation is the core of the story, but what stance does it take?
Actually, the film also takes head-on the exponentially mushrooming commercial and private coaching sector, which is turning into a rapacious monster that is not doing any good to learning.
Regarding reservation, since the characters in Aarakshan personify different shades of opinion on the issue, they do take strong stances. Not so much the film, I’d say.

Why a film on reservation at this moment, when the issue is dormant?
The issue is hardly dormant! As long as casteism exists here, so will reservation, and it’ll continue to agitate public opinion. Even now, film or no film, all you have to do is just mention the topic in any public space — train compartment, college canteen, pub, anywhere — and see how the debate goes wild! And so emotionally charged will it be that there won’t be a resolution. This is one never-ending debate.

What do you make of the protests and agitations?
This trend of menacing filmmakers and demanding to see the film even after Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) clearance, is going to reduce our freedom of expression. At some stage, this extra-constitutional censorship is going to go out of hand. Moreover, regarding Aarakshan, my own feeling is that you might fault it as a film, but I don’t think it is politically problematic.

Politicians in Maharashtra and elsewhere want to see the film before you release it. Have you agreed?
Personally, I don’t see why one should. But, it is the producer’s call. And his stand has been clear. If a government officially asks to see it, or if the court directs him to show it, he will. Until now only the Uttar Pradesh government has requested that. We’re showing it to them.

Did the censor board ask for any specific cuts that you did not want to make?
No. The CBFC cleared it for a U/A certificate without a single cut. It’s really ironic that while the CBFC is becoming more sensitive, liberal and progressive, these other forces are moving in reverse gear!

Can the complex issue of reservation be reduced to a simplistic equation of merit vs quotas?
No, obviously not. Hence, they’re never merely counter-posited in the film. Moreover, let’s face it, this whole notion of merit itself, and how it is determined today, is questionable. How is scoring high in competitive exams with the aid of coaching classes meritorious in any true sense!

Your films have been mainly political or on strong social subjects? Do you think political films work at the box office? And was the decision to take stars motivated by increasing box office appeal?
I really don’t see why a film on any subject shouldn’t work. I mean this seriously. Jaideep (Sahni) wrote a very popular film on women’s hockey! Amole (Gupte) swung a story about a dyslexic child! Both released in the popular space. Right now, a larger canvas may still need stars as they help bring the crowds in. But, at the end, it is the film that sends them back satisfied.

Was there any disagreement between you and the director on the stance and ideology of the film?
There was very little disagreement at the ideological level. What took months of arduous and sometimes rancorous debate was what to show in the film and how far to take it.

In the end, how will this film carry forward the debate on reservations? Or shall we just see it as a film and nothing else?
We tend to overestimate a film’s ability to influence public opinion. The overriding reason people go to watch a film is to get emotionally involved with the drama of the story. However, what Aarakshan could do is remind people of the issue, maybe revive the debate for a while until it settles down to the uneasy equilibrium where it has been all this while.