Thoughts on Court (2015)

(Courtesy: Zeitgeist Films; distributors of the movie)

I normally don't do reviews. I can't pin down my reasons for the same. It's probably a mixture of the fact that it takes an 'inspired' (no, not in the sense Hindi film industry/reviewers use it) movie to inspire me to think about a movie enough. And, it takes more than that to inspire enough to write something about it. It might be something to do with my need for pushing a certain movie (which, in turn, can be broken down but I would rather care not to, at this point), or something to do with sparking off a thought. Or, something that effects me emotionally.

I felt Chaitanya Tamhane's debut movie, Court (trailer here, synopsis here), achieved those and more. It had its issues. The biggest of them all being, essentially, this tendency of characters to just generally stare at blankness while driving/walking/existing. And, 'slowness' (or my need, as a viewer, for the movie to just 'get on with it!'). I am okay with both of those, if in moderation or serving a purpose, and I thought it was doing them both. But those were some (minor) issues, I had nonetheless.

<*Spoilers ahead*>

However, what the movie achieves is far more! It gave me an insight into the dreariness of the judicial system in India - the 'everydayness' of it all. Touches like the judge summarising the 'minutes of the meeting/discussion' to his assistant for she may note it down 'accurately' at the end of the Prosecutor's/Defense's arguments. Or, the 'everydayness' of the Defense in not bothering to persist for bail in a seemingly 'moronic' (at least to an audience brought up on Sunny Deol's Courtroom dramas) reasoning of the Judge to dismiss a bail plea, for the Defense knows the (Kafkaesque?) system. Or the 'everydayness' of the Prosecutor's life by capturing her routine back from work in a local - talking about random things in the local, or cooking for her kids post work, or her implicit biases (something to the effect of, "Yaar kyun toh bhi yeh case kheench rahe hai? ("Why are these guys stretching this?") Just put him in jail and we'll figure later, no?" - and while my paraphrasing is highly inaccurate but it just attempts to capture the matter-of-fact nature of the statement arising out of inherent biases. Or the 'everydayness' of the Defense Attorney's hanging out with his friends in a bar, post a day at the Bar (or court. Pardon the terrible and technically incorrect pun). Or the 'everydayness' of the Judge going for a vacation with family/friends.

But the 'everydayness' actually draws a point. Or several. And that is also what, possibly, inspired me to write this. The 'everydayness' of the Prosecutor - and her biases - in having led a life in court for 10-15+ years fighting cases. Her 'everydayness' to not particularly empathise with the character she is accusing of abetment of suicide, by virtue of the character having (a) biases against the accused (b) her having been pushed (by the system?) to essentially not take the case home - in the sense of what the audience perceives as something that should prick her conscience and not let her sleep at night, because our empathies our driven to be in a certain direction. The 'everydayness' (or rather the biases) of the Judge who has the impatience of slapping a kid playing an (innocent) prank on him. The 'everydayness' of the Defense Attorney to comment to his client after having paid a hefty amount for the accused's bail (and I am again paraphrasing), "Sir, abhi kya hi jaldi hai (pay karne ki), abhi aap rihaah thodina huen hain" (translates to, "Sir, what's the hurry in paying my fees? There are quite a few more pending cases against you. We'll settle once you get acquitted."). Or in the 'everydayness'/stoicness (?) of the accused to not particularly care before saying in court, (again paraphrasing) how he actually did not write those lyrics that led to the suicide but wouldn't particularly mind doing so, further alienating the Judge and the Prosecutor.

<*Spoilers End*>

The 'everydayness' also exists in the class inequalities. The fact that we have an apparently 'liberal', and certainly well-off urban middle-class (if not upper-middle class) advocate defending a Dalit-lower-class-Poet against a person of unidentified/unnoticed caste, lower middle-class advocate defending a seemingly lowest-of-the-caste 'sewer worker', is something that can definitely be read more into. But, I am not qualified to do so and thus shall leave it aside.

The 'everydayness' captured, thus, isn't just for the arthouse - 'staring into the blankness' stereotype. It is actually a movie that by the time it comes around to make its point, makes it in such a poignant manner that despite growing a bit tired by about 75% running time of the movie, the last 25% of it made me so excited in the manner that it was being taken, that the dreariness of the first 75% - captured mostly in the ~500 words of the two spoiler-filled paragraphs above - become a positive as it dawned that all of that dreariness was intended to drive across the final 25% in a certain organic manner, driven by the need of the story (as against as some have argued, intended for the 'international audience'). (That's also a statement that is weirdly complicated for me to analyse/correct.)

It was a movie that I absolutely loved - and maybe I need to watch it again to temper my praises. It was a movie that I would strongly recommend to any and everybody who has a bit of a patience to wait for a movie to make its point. And, I think it might be the best debut movie since Udaan! (Yes, I've seen Ship of Theseus.)

By the end of this post, I realise that I've not summarised the plot of it all, especially for those who've not read the spoilers and I summarise as thus: It is a movie that captures the absurdity of justice in India. It is about a street-poet-singer who happens to take tuitions in Marathi to kids in the neighborhood, and finds himself being accused of 'abetting the suicide' of a sewer digging man. It explores the lives the various characters involved, including the witness(es), the cops involved, the Prosecutor, the Defense, and the Judge, among others.

I hope you watch this movie for this movie deserves to be watched. I hope you support this movie for this movie needs support. And, I hope you do both of the preceding things for it isn't out of 'sympathy' of its low-budget/independent-movie status that it deserves so, but for for the points mentioned above and more.

I would definitely be waiting for Tamhane's next - in whatever form (short, documentary, feature-length etc.). I hope so do you.