In 'Bandar', Anurag Kashyap Stares Unflinchingly at One Form of Injustice and Dodges the Larger One |
Anurag Kashyap’s Bandar is set in a fascinating world. An out-of-work actor Samar Mehra (Bobby Deol), 50, a shadow of his ‘90s screen-self, has to perform his one-hit wonder at tacky weddings to pay the bills. When he exits the airport and sees his more famous colleagues (cameos by Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber) getting ‘papped’, he takes out his phone and takes a selfie of his tired face, to humble-brag on social media.
He’s behind on his EMIs; his domestic help, Shiva, hasn’t been paid in four months. Even as he carries a constant back pain, Samar is unapologetic about his carnal desires, dabbling in problematic pornography and scrolling through profiles of significantly younger women, as if to suggest a sexual preference. He’s also petty and territorial, something we find out during a conversation with girlfriend, Khushi (Saba Azad), when he expresses displeasure after she went out with a group of friends the night before. All in all, where protagonists are usually air-brushed, Samar is a grimy, authentic everyman, comfortably placed in his contradictions, unserious world-view and profound vanity.
Hence, when he’s accused of raping a woman, everyone believes it almost instantly. When a female constable checks his phone to find dirty messages exchanged with the complainant, and his browsing history comprises pornographic websites, she looks judgementally towards him, convinced about the allegations.
He refutes the allegations, maintains his innocence. But don’t they all? The cops, far from professional and convinced about his guilt, mistreat him. He’s not allowed to call his lawyer, forced to share a cell with bemused onlookers and roaches. Shiva is chased out of the police station, when he tries to bring Samar’s mandatory medication to him.
Bobby Deol in a scene n ‘Bandar’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video/Zee TV Africa.
Kashyap, who staged a similar scene inside the police station in Ugly (2014), is almost gleeful during this opening stretch. When the constables show up at Samar’s........