Do not Underestimated Indian Revenge Movies

While everyone is complaining about the lack of new movies to watch, Indian movies are beginning to dominate the list gradually.

These films are not about Bollywood songs and dances, but about more passionate and black revenge stories.

01. There are many Indian revenge movies.

Over these years, Indian films seem to be more radical and angrier.

Jai Bhim, for example, is an unsparing revenge. In the film, the police torture the suspect to death, which is distorted as an accidence. This story brings back the audience's attention to the tragedy under the caste system. Also, it shows how to use the trial justice of the court to accomplish revenge.

The Baahubali series, which has the highest investment in Indian film history, can be called an Indian "Avatar". No matter how gorgeous the appearance is, the background is still the story of "Hamlet", a revenge of an Indian prince.

Jana Gana Mana has to use a triple reversal to complete a revenge, because the opponents of protagonist are more than the politicians or the corrupt police.

02 Revenge films began in the political crisis of 1974

In fact, Indian movies have always had a tradition of revenge.

In 1974, India fell into a double crisis of politics and economy, and the country entered a state of emergency. Elections was postponed indefinitely, the government got dissolved, speech controlled, and the police had unlimited powers and funding.

Under the pressure of strong political sentiment, the first generation of revenge movies appeared.

Sholayi in 1975 tells a story of the protagonists avenging a disabled policeman out of gratitude.

Since then, there has been a routine in Indian movies: hooligans, vengeful women, rude police officers and corrupt politicians. For the sake of justice, people can become fanatics getting away without judgment.

In 1994, India and Britain co-produced Bandit Queen, which undoubtedly took this trend to a climax.

The film is based on a true story. Phoolan Devi, a low-caste girl born in a small village, was sold to a grumpy old man as a child bride at the age of 11. She was gang-raped and abused by the police when she was falsely accused into prison. At the year of 17, she got kidnapped by bandits.

At the age of 18, she joined the bandits, killed her enemies, and "slaughtered" the village that abused her, becoming a fearsome "bandit queen". The government and the upper castes regarded her as an enemy, while the common people at the bottom regarded her as a savior.

The bloody red turban was her medal. And two years after the film was released, she was elected as the Indian Parliament at the age of 33.

03. Roots: Caste System and Patriarchy

In rural India in 1975, the real owners of the village were the landlords, who had sincere feelings for the villagers and the land.

In the era of British rule, the government abolished the private privileges and titles of landlords, but their power remained, and each landlord wanted to continue his rule. In a patriarchy society, male landlords, of course.

Under this change, the caste system has become a natural barrier among people in Indian society.

In addition, there is also the feudal and outdated patriarchal ideology. In India, many rapists cannot be trialed in time because it takes seven to nine years to sentence a case, which leads to countless cases to be processed. With inefficient trial, inefficient judgment and high connivance, if the rapist still has power and influence, there is no way for the victims to sue.

For example, the opening of the movie A Thursday puts it clear.

Under the double oppression of caste system and patriarchy, people need a channel of catharsis to complete the revenge. Movies are their outlet. The elite use justice and rules to revenge, while the people at the bottom boldly settle their personal grievances on the screen.

04. Revenge movies inevitably fall into stereotypes.

As the emotional blowout of the toiling masses, revenge has always been the most exciting theme for the audience.

The Indian film industry, however, has become accustomed to being entertainment-oriented. This kind of Indian revenge is bound to fail to become a sound rebellion and can only serve as another form of dream factory.

Justice and revenge have gradually formed a narrative routine, a narrative mode that audiences like to see: Bollywood songs and dances rendering emotions + complex plots + stereotypical characters.

For example, Mom, the film even saves the effort to pretend where the mother is directly praised up as God. Under imperfect laws, how can this kind of lines about motherhood kidnapping have positive value?

"God can't take care of everyone, so he created mothers."

In addition, after experiencing the pleasure of revenge, how should people face the reality?

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned the movie Jai Bhim. It takes only a few months for Chandru to win the unwinnable case, and the ending is "happy": the policeman is punished, the woman is compensated, and the brick house she wanted is built.

But the reality is horrible.

In fact, it took 13 years of Chandru to fight with the caste system, law enforcement and the judicial system since 1993. The Raja case has become the human rights case which runs the longest time in local history.

To this day, when the crew went to interview the heroine, she still lives in a leaky slum.

Of course, we are not supposed to criticize movies. If we expect movies to change the world, we are too naive about the world.

05. New Revenge Movies Are Coming

In fact, Indian movies not only reflect on reality, but also begin to reflect on "revenge" itself.

Last year, Netflix released The White Tiger, an adaptation of the 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by an Indian writer. The film tells the story of a man at the bottom who, in order to live a rich life, does all kinds of evil things and achieves his ultimate goal.

This is a revenge of the bottom class against the vested interests of the upper class after the society solidification. This film has been criticized because it does not present the theme with political correctness in Indian movies.

After the emergence of anti-routine Indian revenge movies, people begin a new round of reflection.
Can revenge also be a double-edged sword? It brings comfort to one person, but for the whole society, is revenge followed by justice or the next cycle of injustice?

I believe that Indian movies, which have already earned people’s admiration will have a broader world.

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