Some books tell us a fictional story, some others tell us stories inspired by true events, some tell us about past, some tell us about present times, some tell us about some abstract ideas, some give us inspiration, some give us grim picture of our times, some tell us about one phenomenon or the other. Urban Naxals gives us a combination of all the above.
It tells us the story of Vivek Agnihotri (the author), true incidents from his own life, it tells us about the past accounts of phenomena of Naxals, it tells us about the abstract idea of “Urban Naxals” which has materialized into reality quite some decades ago, it inspires us about the value of hard work, perseverance, and patience that Vivek had while making the movie “Buddha in a Traffic Jam”. It gives us the grim reality of our country that we have been celebrating mediocrity and nepotism even after 70 years of independence. It tells us about the phenomena of hypocrisy, double standards, irony and contradictions that the whole ecosystem works with.
As someone who completed this book in one sitting, I can say that while I was reading the book, it seemed to me as if someone was narrating a story, a phenomenon, a reality which I have seen since my childhood growing up in a heavily Naxalite affected tri-border area of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. It is just that Vivek has connected all the dots and presented a picture which is very difficult for any urban society person to understand as he/she only depends on the op-eds of some journalists sitting in Lutyens Delhi to get his / her understanding of Naxalism. The reality strikes only when someone tries to know the phenomena from a closer and experiential view which Vivek has lucidly mentioned in the book.
The book runs through different units with reference to Buddha being born, In Search of Buddha, The Making of Buddha and The Struggle of Buddha. This is one of the unique ways Vivek uses to wind the beads of the events to make it an interesting and unputdownable read. This is again one of those ways that Vivek has used in his film “Buddha in a Traffic Jam” where movie runs in a chapter wise manner. It’s the experimentation with new ideas and ways that Vivek is adept in that makes him an Avant-Garde filmmaker and author.
Book lists out the origin of Naxal movement and then a lot of small but real instances to give the reality check to all the readers in general and urban public unaware of these things in particular. Many people who have migrated from rural to urban areas may find their connection with these small instances.
The book very slowly and in a subtle manner takes up the journey of Vivek in making of the movie “Buddha in a Traffic Jam” from scratch. Students of the prestigious B-School, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad wanted just to make a short film but then Vivek asks them to think like a CEO that they are going to become in future. Then this concept of full feature film comes up.
Vivek in a passionate manner describes as to how they wrote the script which we think that scriptwriters write sitting somewhere alone and through deep introspection. Many scenes in the script were just a fluke as Vivek honestly points out.
Film Industry as it is usually seen as a hub of nepotism did to Vivek exactly what political parties do their alliance partners if they leave them. They will malign, create a lot of hurdles and would leave the person to his own if he or she does not agree with their ideology. This comes out very strongly in the book where Vivek mentions about the difficulty in getting mainstream financiers and distributors for the movie. Many of them agreed initially but backed out at the last moment.
Even with all these hurdles, Vivek tries all his luck, hard work to somehow get the movie going. In the process, he shows exemplary negotiation abilities and thinking out of the box. Through reading the book I can say that he and his team were thinking even without the box to get something new. For the first time, some filmmaker was showing his movie directly to the youth of this country by visiting them on the campus. This comes out as one of the biggest inspiration for any person as when people try to block your way by hurdles, you learn and start thinking of how to circumvent your way to reach the pinnacle where you want to.
The book is also about the personal and special relationship you share with some people in your life. In case of Vivek, his wife Pallavi Joshi was 1st such person and 2nd was Anupam Kher who gave him motivation through their words during the times. I particularly liked the fact that Anupam Kher did the movie of Vivek without any special demand financially or otherwise just because he saw this movie as something very meaningful in life to Vivek. This may be a good moral lesson for our film artists (only if they care to read the book) from a veteran actor Anupam Kher.
There have been many books as to how a war was won, how a start-up became successful, how someone became a head of the state/country, how someone found the love of his/her life, but this book just tells about how a simple yet powerful movie was made. So, powerful that JNU authorities did not want it to be screened in the campus, Jadavpur University students broke the shoulder of Vivek and glasses of his cab. There was definitely something in the movie which was going to expose some people like never before because the same people day in and day out shout ‘Freedom of Expression’ and ‘Democracy’ is in danger were in the forefront of stopping this movie with all their might.
Many so-called ‘film critics’ ridiculed the movie when it was released. I was in my final year when I read some of the reviews before watching the movie, but after watching the movie, I was not sure as to whether those ‘film-critics’ were ridiculing the movie or were giving the evidence of how ridiculous ‘critics’ they were. Vivek mentions all so-called “film critics” with their ‘critique’ in the last few pages of the book which gives any reader a sense of suspicion as to why all of them are writing the same kinds of stuff against the film. But, someone who has seen the whole Naxal movement first hand, I am glad that Vivek made this movie to expose the nexus and then wrote this book to expose them further as they are present everywhere and coined a new term “Urban Naxals” which book does not define explicitly as many people would like to because every phenomenon has many shades and once the phenomena is understood, its all shades can be captured at a drop of a hat. I am happy that Vivek has not defined it within some abstract constraints. Let the youth of India explore this word for themselves.
At the end book can be said to explore in its essence the irony and contradictions of living in India even after 70 years of independence. “An India where success does not lie in money. It lies in surviving. The complex India. The difficult India. The corrupt India. The honest India. The oppressed India. The feudal India. A regressive India. A progressive India. It’s poor. It’s filthy. It’s hard working. It smells of struggle, of co-existence, of sweat. Its diversity, its disparity, the chaos, the conflict. The aspirational India, the ignored India, the defeated India… The real India”