Jingostan Zindabad! Jingostan Zindabad! These words reverberate in your ears much longer, even when you have left the cinema hall, as one unknowingly keeps on humming the song. Such is the impact of that song; and no song has felt more relevant in recent times. This film has come at a time when hyper-nationalism is in full force in the country. The songs in this film have the tone of the likes of Anna Bhau Sathe, Namdeo Dhasal and Tukaram as the songs are unapologetic, unfiltered, voice of the voiceless and rebellious in nature.
The film opens with Moeen, an unapologetic small time thief who survives on car robbery and drug peddling. Accompanying him are Murad, an under-confident last year student and his classmate Salman, who is often mocked for being womanish – one gets the feeling that it is a reference to Salman Khan similar to the one in “Haider”.
Murad’s home is no different from a regular, stereotypical, poor household which yells parent abuse, husband abuse and abject poverty from the top of its lungs; except that the scream is often portrayed through the eyes of Murad and his mother Razia. Murad’s love interest Safeena is an extremely brilliant, passionate medical student and one who is extremely possessive about her boyfriend. Those small talks between Safeena and Murad show that her career is of primary importance to her, more than anything else probably even more than Murad indicating the slow change in psyche of the modern Muslim woman with education.
Every time the society’s discriminatory system shows that there is a line which Murad should toe and never cross e.g when Murad has replaced his father as a driver and once on duty he could not control himself while listening to music and tries to enter the pub, but the bouncer shows him the door, may be saying that he just does not belong there. Songs like “Kaisi ye Majboori hai, Socho kitni doori hai,” connect with the listener instantly and comment sharply on the capitalist system of the country while also raises some pertinent questions about the concept of “development”.
It also shows that not just the labour class but also the “capitalist” is affected by it, as he also has alienated himself in the process of making money at all cost. For e.g when Murad’s boss’s daughter returns from the pub dejected and weeping, Murad cannot even console her and that is reflected in the lines “Sach to yeh hai ki main kahaan aur tum kahaan.” There are very strong scenes which challenge the prejudices against women. For e.g MC Sher’s (mentor and friend to Murad) introductory scene “Ah tujhe chhedne ki talab hai tu nakli wala marad” lines are a tight slap to people like BJP MP Kuldeep Singh Sengar involved in the Unnao rape case.
Even Safeena, who is a daughter of a doctor is living a double life, as the medieval values are still dominant in her family but when she rebels against those values, her mother, who is a woman herself resorts to physical violence. This shows that while it is true that men made this discriminatory gender-biased system, women themselves have ensured that this system survives for thousands of years. Then there is a song like “Azaadi”, a true gem which whips the ruling political dispensation and business houses with its lyrics.
The film is actually a commentary on the socio-economic and political situation of the country. The only difference here is that while the film’s dialogues and scenes subtly comment on it, the songs directly take on the capitalist and casteist mentality in our society. The language used in the film is not the usual Hindi spoken in Hindi cinema, as the proletariat have developed their own language which may sound derogatory and classless to the “Brahmanical” mentality but it is original and rebellious in nature.
Songs like “Jingostan”, “Azaadi” and “Kaisi ye majboori” will be etched in the hearts and minds of the audiences for years to come. The film ends with the song “Apna time aayega” probably hinting that this 21st century will be a century of the proletariat and what has been snatched from us will return back to us!