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By Joginder Tuteja, September 5, 2008 - 14:16 IST
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht, Amrish Puri, Annu Kapoor, Milind Gunaji, Manoj Bajpai, Ravi Kale
Producer and Director: Govind Nihalani
Dialogues: Atul Tiwari
THE FILM
Aamir, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Contract, Hijack, A Wednesday, Mukhbiir, Khuda Kay Liye, Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam - all of a sudden there seems to be a slew of films which are exploring the 'terror' angle. Some of them may be completely rooted to the issue (Mumbai Meri Jaan, Aamir) while a couple of others are ranging from being truly commercial (Hijack, Contract) to frivolous (Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam). Still, what can't be denied is a fact that terror and terrorists are the flavor of the season as far as Bollywood is concerned.
Even in the past, this angle has been exposed though majority of films made with terror as a backdrop were in late 80s and early 90s when blood, gore and violence ruled the roost. The likes of Amrish Puris, Kadar Khans, Gulshan Grovers, Shakti Kapoors, Raza Murads and Tej Saprus donned the mask of the terrorists while Dharmendra, Mithun, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol and company kept a couple of machine guns handy in their closets to ensure that they scream aloud in unison- 'Paap Ko Jala Ke Raakh Kar Doonga'! It was during these 'troubled' times that producer-director Govind Nihalani took it upon him to make perhaps Bollywood's first ever bona fide terrorist film Drohkaal.
Drohkaal tells the dilemma of a cop (Om Puri) who catches hold of the head honcho (Ashish Vidyarthi) of a terrorist outfit only to see himself being at the latter's mercy. Reason? Ashish has his men (Annu Kapoor and company) hijack Om Puri's house, keep his family (wife Mita Vashisht and a son) under their 'supervision' and hence make him dance to his tune. All of this happens even as Om Puri's colleague (Naseeruddin Shah) is puzzled about his lenient attitude towards Vidyarthi even after catching him with much difficulty.
Things tend to get murkier as Om and Naseer realize that their own boss (Amrish Puri) was supposedly involved with the terror outfit. Still, they carry on their mission of having implanted a 'mukhbiir' (informer), played by Milind Gunaji, into Vidyarthi's gang who updates them on the outfit's movements for years at stretch and ultimately succeeds to be Vidyarthi's right hand man. A complex tale which raises questions on the loyalty of the police officers, the support they get from the government, the security of the very informers planted by the police, the dilemma of choosing loyalty over family - all of this makes Drohkaal a near 3 hours watch which keeps you wide eyed in spite of it's snail paced narrative.
'The dilemma of choosing loyalty over family' - in fact this is the very angle which makes Drohkaal a film which makes it different from the rest of it's ilk. What would you do when your own child has a gun over his head and your wife is alone at whom who could be raped any moment by a terrorist? Would you still talk about 'deshbhakti' and refuse to bow down to the wish of the terrorist? Or would you leave your heroism aside and plain and simple agree to all the demands? A demand, which goes to the extent of even revealing the identity of your colleague who is after the terrorist, and all of this while knowing well that after this conversation there won't be an iota of chance about the mission succeeding further and the colleague remaining alive!
This is what Drohkaal is all about. Brutally honest, hard hitting in true terms and seemingly practical which doesn't even once challenge the much used and abused term - 'system'. Instead it challenges you to probe within yourself rather than authorities around you.
The film is an Om Puri show all the way but the man who throws a surprise, a huge one at that, is Ashish Vidyarthi, who gets the best scenes and dialogues reserved for him. Hardly a caricature of a terrorist that Bollywood has witnessed time and again, Vidyarthi demonstrates once again that he has been an actor who can be trusted upon when there is a call to enact a powerful role. Naseeruddin Shah has more of a special appearance and as always, he is good. Annu Kapoor is tremendous as a man with sex on his mind, something which sends a shiver down the spine when he rapes Mita Vashishth, only to get wild when he demands her to 'enjoy' it all as well. Brutal! However, the scene of the film is when Om Puri and Ashish Vidyarthi come face to face for the first time outside the jail premises. Even as Om Puri ridicules him for his logic behind the terror activities, Vidyarthi steals the show with his dialogue delivery and a hard hitting act. A highly dramatic sequence!
Released in 1994, almost a decade and a half back, the film didn't quite gain much box office success. Critical acclaim came though but again not the kind which would have resulted in the film being remembered for decades to come, a la Ardh Satya. However, in the current context when films with terror as a backdrop are releasing almost every second week and real terror attacks taking place in numerous parts of the country, it is imperative that one looks back at the film which Nihalani made years back and ensured that the message was conveyed even if he had to sprinkle some 'masala' elements to make the going-ons engaging.
 
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