Saw ‘Madaari’ yesterday, the new Irfan Khan, Jimmy Shergil starrer. I liked the movie. I liked its subject matter even more. It is so relevant today. Every day we come across these tragedies – bridges and buildings collapsing due to the usage of substandard material – that are perpetrated by these corrupt politicians, builders, contractors who are only interested in filing their coiffeurs. So what if the price of filling these coiffeurs is a few lives. But they forget that those few lives are someones loved ones including small children. Imagine the plight of that parent who has lost a child to such a tragedy. Where do they go for justice, who is going to bring these corrupt people down, and when we say down it means really down-and-out, not the kind where after a few years of hiatus they are back to their old ways no worse for wear. They keep pushing and pushing the common man. Rightly one of the politicians says in the movie that we are so divided by our pettiness that it is easy for them to crush us under their feet.
At one point in the movie Irfan says that someone had his mouth open for eating and ate his son. That is actually the truth, they are not eating money they are eating people and we as commoners can’t do zilch about it. They eat and eat and eat. More is never enough. And the common man keeps suffering. I wish we could say ‘an eye for an eye’, but that is also not possible. We are not like those corrupt people; we could NEVER EVER hurt someone like that. There is absolutely no justification to hurting an innocent, but God I wish there was a way these gobblers of money, these willing and immoral creatures who have made corruption one of the most lucrative businesses in the world could be made to feel the same pain that the parent is going through. I keep referring to a parent because I am one and my children are the same age as the boy in that movie, so maybe it has hit me hard but of course it applies to anyone who has lost a loved one to this kind of manslaughter.
In the movie the corrupt politician says that his career may be over but this business will continue and isn’t that the truth. It is not just the individuals who are corrupt, the whole system is corrupt. And God forbid if you are not corrupt the system will either spit you out or convert you. We hear about these kickbacks all the time that run into numbers that are mindboggling but what can we do about it. What is the right answer and what is the best deterrent, when is enough going to be enough?
The movie 'Madaari' is good though a little lengthy. Irfan is a great actor and he was able to portray the agony of the father who has lost his son. While I was watching the money I had the above thoughts racing in my mind and I had to write them down.