India's official entry to the Oscars, NEWTON is a terrific movie which compels us to view India from a perspective and a place where the concept of India itself is unknown.
And it is not even the peripheral India that we are talking about but the heart of India- the dangerous Dandakaranya forests in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand along regions where not just state borders but even the concept of democracy blurs out.. It doesn't make sense to the villagers and why would it? It doesn't make sense to us, and why would it? We have never interacted before. We only have misconceptions and stereotypes about each other. For them we are infiltrators and for us they are terrorists and the movie attempts to break this concept.
These villagers are trapped between two groups who are hell bent on establishing their supremacy - the Naxalites and the Indian army, even if it means burning down entire villages to 'mark their territories', operating on the same concept which the wild animals around them have taught them.
And in this gory, never ending battle are trapped some of India's most underdeveloped villages, which only exist on the map- nobody- no government, no politician dares to visit these places.
Communication is a problem for they speak a dialect which is not understandable to our men in uniform and suspicion always overpowers humanity in the jungle.
And in this place are caught two strong men hell bent on carrying out their duties- a young government officer, Nutan Kumar who calls himself NEWTON and Aatma Singh, a representative of our men in uniform.
While Nutan or NEWTON is a novice, 25 year old educated, hard working and honest to a fault presiding officer tasked with the job of carrying out elections for the first time in village with only 76 voters, he is up against Aatma Singh, the man whose concept of a successful day means ' a day without casualities' which in itself is rare in these areas. They both clash as they both want to do their duty- the polling booth is 8 km deep from the army base camp and it means treading through the dangerous forests on foot where even the break of tiny branch from a tree in broad daylight is met with a suspicion and highalert and Aatma Singh is in no mood to risk his jawans just for the sake of elections which he tries to convince NEWTON are going to do no good to democracy or the villagers. But NEWTON is a novice who comes from urban India and like the movie watcher he must discover this concept 'different India' to believe it. There are risks involved but for NEWTON, honesty and integrity come before life and death and he is in no mood to go back with 0% voter turnout. NEWTON is representative of the soul of everyday Indian who has grown up watching TV and what media wanted us to see. He finds the reality to be very different. For a firm believer in the concept of democracy, every frame brings with it a new shock, a new realization and sort of enlightenment as he puts on a bulletproof jacket and decides to venture through the jungles with only one mission- to carry out elections.
Rajkummar Rao speaks less but whenever he speaks he has only questions and it annoys Aatma Singh until he puts a condition that he can't ask him any question in the jungle. There is humor, dark comedy, there is sarcasm and there is subtlety and finally realization that India can't change overnight- but day by day if we all follow NEWTON- a scientist who gave the concept that laws of gravity and motion are honest and equal for every person, animal or thing on this earth and you can neither deny nor claim to own these laws but have to abide by them. Hum sab mein ek NEWTON hai jo imaandari se kaam karna chahta hai par woh kahi chhup gaya hai. These are the concepts around which the movie revolves.
It is not a movie about providing answers but an honest attempt at asking the right questions.
The performances of every character are top notch but the plot and the surrounding are real heroes in this 'Day in the life of an election officer in Dandakaranya' rather than a movie. Watch it only if you have patience and an open mind. And yes make sure to carry your brains along for this one, an idea which is otherwise considered dangerous if you are watching a typical Bollywood no-brainer..
P.S. It's not a movie to be enjoyed with popcorn and cola So avoid it if that's your only thing..
~ Devashish Palkar
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