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Roja in 'Law and Order' StateAuthor(s): S. V. SrinivasSource: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 29, No. 20 (May 14, 1994), pp. 1225-1226Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4401206

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Roja in 'Law and Order' StateS V Srinivas

TEJASWININIRANJANA's article('Inte-gratingWhose Nation? Touristsand Terro-rists in Roja', EPW, January 15) and theresponse by Venkatesh ChakravarthyandM S S Pandian ('More on Roja', EPW,March 12) have quite correctly focused onthe political significance of Maniratnam'sMuch-dubbed ilm.Released at a time (latterhalf of 1992 inTamil and Telugu) when the Hinduright'srhetoricon KashmirandMuslims was morestrident hanever before,the film also coin-cided with the government's claim to havesuccessfully solved the 'Punjab problem'.This was also the time of increased staterepression n AndhraPradesh,Assam, Bihar,Gujarat,ribalareasof Maharashtra,MadhyaPradeshand Kashmir tself. All these states(except Gujarat)apparentlysuffered from'terrorism' nd the governmentsof the statesandcentrewere busy 'tackling he extremistmenace' with a variety of brutal, unconsti-tutional means. ULFA and PWG werebannedearlieraswereRSS,VHPandBajrangDal later. The response of the state to therightwasexceptionally wild while scores ofpeople lost their lives due to their allegedassociation with ULFA and PWG. As hasbeenpointedoutby Tejaswini Niranjana, nTamil Nadu too there was a crack down on'terrorists'which in realitymeant suppres-sion of SriLankanTamils and theirsuppor-ters in the name of twisting the latest'foreign hand', LITE.On the otherhand,theregime's obsessionwith privatisationand liberalisation, Bank-Fundism'smost visible manifestations,wasacquiring concrete, rreversible orm.Evenwhile the state withdrew from its economicand social obligations, armed and ruthlessintervention n a broad spectrumof opposi-tional movements-became the order of theday. Interestingly,emphasis is now beinggivento 'people's participation' ven in lawand order maintenance. As a result, Delhipolice spends lakhs on appealing to the'public' to help fight 'terrorism', 'drugabuse',and communalism'.Thisnew-foundmania or 'broadening hebase' forpolicingdoes notprevent he governmentfromrais-ing a well-trained readarmed to the teeth)force toguardprivatelyowned tea estatesinAssam. #It is possible to argue that today, evenwhile the state grows increasingly repres-sive, it is reducing ts sphereof activity andrapidlyconfining it to maintaining aw and-order.'The rulingclass-caste elite has beendemandingpreciselythis. There seems to bea 'contradicton', n the-sense of a doublebind, in the state's-functioning.Comment-ing on-Roja, Tejaswini Niranjana and

ChakravarthyndPandianhaveemphasisedon seemingly opposing pressures of thesame process. In the film, there is thus atonce "a rejection of the Nehruvian statewhich had been compelled to write in itspolicies a vision of democracy and egali-tariansocialism" (Niranjana),and the ulti-mate victory of the "state and Hindu-patri-archalculture" ChakravarthyndPandian).The question I would like to address s howRoja, released at the crucial moment whenthe Nehruvian state was dismantled,reactsto the transformationmentioned above thatstrengthens the repressivearm of the stateand drives it out of every other sphere ofactivity.Roja interpellates the 'common man',upper-caste-middle-class male really, toprotect 'national nterest'by fightingterro-rism. The correspondencesbetween familyandnation ChakravarthyndPandian) erveto 'bringhome' larger problemslike terro-rism by tuming abstractconcepts like na-tionalsecurity nto mmediately ecognisableones like family well-being. Such a rela-tionship between the subject and nationrenders rrelevant nyotherkind of commit-ment except (andthis is where the film takesthe cake) in the most mechanical and cli-ched terms. The moral: fight terrorismoryour familywill go to thedogs. This in itselfis not new to Indian cinema (two decadesago Deewar merged the interests of thefamily with those of the nation-the errantson was also a criminal).In the recentpast,the essential cinematicproblemhas becomeprotection of the family (not necessarilynuclearfamily).2Maniratnam'sDalapathi,whichpreceededRoja, is all said and done,a highly unimaginativefilm on the Hindu,family. Family in films is itself becomingmoreoppressively patriarchaln the courseof thesedevelopments.3Maniratnamhere-fore has at his disposal a rich film intertextwhich has already made the equationbet-ween family and nation-state,by extensionheroism as a fight for both.

What s new about this film is theblatantequation of the Muslim with terrorism.Ifanything, Indianfilm-makershave gone toridiculous lengths to say 'Hindu-Muslim(or Hindu-Sikh)Bhai-Bhai' andblame theforeign hand's agents, generally maniacalindividuals, for the trouble. In Roja theforeignhand s verymuch n thebackgroundbut more visible is an identifiable ethnic-religious community actively engaging interrorism.4Thanks to the intertextavailable on whatterroristsdo, the director eaves this largelyto the audience's awarenessof statepropa-gandaand tsmanifestationin inema scores

of films have been made in Tanil, Teluguand Hindion thissubject). Instead he focusis on who they are (Muslims) and one oftheir 'victims'. Throughthis victim and h'sbeloved, the 'common man' is interpella*edto save the nation and family.Maniratnam mploys two important'tech-niques, starcasting and film cliche, to forcethe closure of the film which, to quoteChakravarthy ndPandian, s 'orgasmic'.Itis a fulfilment of Rishi Kumar'sdesire to bereunited with Roja and the middle classfantasy of saving the nation.Film is generally watchedand nterpretedin the context of a long history of film-viewing. The audiencesarealways alreadyconscious of a historyof cinema, its actors,plots, genres and cliches. This conscious-ness is highly 'productive' as film-makersmay build on expectations or play withthem. When it comes to actors, especiallyrecognisable ones, no matterwhatrole s/heplays in the presentfilm, there are 'images'alreadyavailable to theaudience n thelightof which the new role is received.5Partofthe 'pleasure'of watchingfilms is greciselythis interaction between what we are con-scious of and what is being offered.6InRoja the 'image' of the stars s used byManiratnamro force, at least partially,themovement of the film towardsits conclu-sion. This is Madhubala's(Roja) first filmin Tamil. Her Phool Aur Kante (Hindi) wasalready a major success by this time. Shewas thus either unknown in southernIndiaor known as a sexual object (Phool AurKante).Inbothcases she could quite easilyfunction as the "ideal site of unlimitedde-sire" (Chakravarthy nd Pandian).Arvind(Rishi Kumar) appeared in Maniratnam'sprevious film, Dalapathi, as a responsibleIAS officer andideal son (the errantbastardbeing Rajanikanth).He also beats his half-brother n the race to marry he heroine. Heis thus recognisably responsible, sophisti-cated and successful. Hkecansolve the na-tion's pressing problems and resolve thefilm's crisis. PankajKapur Liaquat) s newto south Indian cinema but he is of courseKaramchand, the carrot-eating crime-buster of Doordarshan's first detectiveserial (available at least to urban middle-classaudience).He is agood manreallyand,as the authors of the earlier article havepointed out, not threateningfor other rea-sons as well. Nationalism (and patriarchy)has alreadywon half the battle.As in Maniratnamr'sarlier ilms, Liaquatis the hard-corecriminal who undergoes,changeof heart Nayagan,Dalapathi).Need-less tosay, the audience s fully awareof thepossibilityof such achangeeven beforethisfilmbegins.7As pointedoutbyChakravarthiandPandian, heideological battle s lostbythe terroristswhenthe director eals thelipsof Liaquat beyond a few outbursts on'aazadi', while Rishi mouths amniliarxple-

Economic andPolitical Weekly May 14, 1994 1225

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tives againstviolence, foreign hands, inno-cent victims and negotiating tables. Some-thingsimilarhappens nNayagan wheretheprotagonist ooks appropriatelyapologeticwhen challenged by his daughter.Likewise, film cliches$ serve to force aresolutionof the crisis (Kashmiri nationa-lism, separatism,fundamentalism) threat-ening the nation's being. As we have seen,muchof theproblem-haslreadybeen solved.The issue of whether hostages should beexchanged is clinched by the employmentof the age-old film cliche of 'action'.9Thehero fights his way to justice, safety andhappinesseverafter.But for the 'action', thefilm would have to end in Rishi's deathorthe defeat of the army's stand against theexchange of hostages. If Rishi were to die,the army would be seen as insensitive. Apartof theaudience might go home thinkingthat hostages should be exchanged for hu-manitarian easons. If on theother handtheexchangeis made,thearmywould lose faceand, worse, the audience might view suchexchanges as attractivesolutions to similarproblems. Very unattractiveand 'danger-ous' alternatives indeed for the director.Thanks to the 'action', firstly the army'sstand is vindicated and, secondly, Roja'splea to the minister and the government'sclimb down are rejected as incorrect anddangerous, f sentimental.Rojais a womanandtheministerapolitician,afterall. Indiancinema todaydenies politicians who gener-ally appearas corrupt, ruel,etc) the roleofspokespersonsof the state's pointof view.The army alone is being projected as theauthenticvoice of the state.'0Herethe con-flict is not between two representativesofthe state but between one authenticrepre-sentative and an unpatriotic (even ifavanNlar) opportunist.Therearenumerouscaustic references in the film to the ex-change of hostages by the V P Singhgovernment.The film thus slickly packagesstate pro-pagandaand"helpsto legitimise armyacti-vities suchas searchoperations, he interro-gation of 'terrorists' and the shooting ofthem"."Rojacalls foi morerather han lessarmftednterventionof the state. It criticisesthe'sqftness' of theregimnenitshandlingofterrorismand projects the army as a truefriend of the patriotic people. The upper-caste-middle-class, as in other spheres ofactivity, is now matureandwilling enoughto do its bit in helpingthe statein its peace-makingactivities.It s now upto thegovern-mentof India to invite the tendersandtakethenationinto the 21st Century.

Notes[A K Sengar,DeepakK SinghandP K Kuriwatched he film only to discuss it with me.Gopinathnd he woPradeeps addiscussionswithmeon terrorismndonRoja inMalayalam.

C T Manlong discussed representations of thearmy in recent Hindi films. Finally, all theabove forced me to tone down what one personcalled my 'obsession with stars'.]1 K Balagopal and others in the AndhraPradeshCivil Liberties Committee have forsometime now been pointing this out intheir public statements.I am indebted to theAPCLC for this analysis of the state's trans-formation in the recent years.2 Witness for instance the development inTelugu cinema: the leading actorChiranjeevi's recent films LankeshWarudu (1989), Gang Leader (1991) andits Hindi version Aaj Ka Goonda Raj(1992), Gharana Mogudi (1992) andMechanic Alludu; Krishna's PachchaniSansaram (1993) and Number I are filmsabout protecting the institution of Hindufamily. Interestingly, there is an overlapof genres: 'family' films and 'action' filmsare fused.3 I cannot discuss this at any length here. Ishall only point out that as a part of ourproject, 'Mass Culture and Its Audience:

Video Cinema in Arunachal Pradesh', we(Deepak K Singh, J L Dawar and I) askedfilm-goers what they 'learnt' from Hindicinema which is very popular here. Amajority of the male respondents saidthey learnt to "take care of the family","be responsible sons/brothers", etc. Themost popular film on video circuit in therecent past is the Mithun starrer Sansaar.I fully agree with the findings ofChakravarthy and Pandian on the link-ages between family and the state, built intocinema. My point is, this predates Roja.

4 See Rajeev Velicheti, 'Women, Violenceand Telengana in Contemporary TeluguCinema' (presented at the Anveshi/Subal-tern Studies Conference on Subalternityand Culture, January 1993). In a one page

'Noteon Roja',he pointsout,"The ilmcanbe seenas a Hindu ommunalilmpotrayi4gMuslimsas perpetrating indlessandself-generating violence. A tune similar toprayers fferedat namaaz, ccompaniedythumping rumbeats, ollowsthe terroristson the audio-track. he terrorists...aree-peatedly doing namaaz and uttering henameof 'allah'"(p 13).5 In herecentpast heHindi ctorShahRukhKhanseemsto have benefitedmost fromsuch a manipulation y playingwhat iscalleda 'negative ead role'.BaazigarandDarr (1993), for example.6 Theres alsoanothersidetothis. aniratnamhas himselfremarked, Stars re a burden;the bigger their image, the bigger yourresponsibility f not going againstwhat heaudience expect of them" (KhalidMohammed,"Mani Matters",Filmfare,January 994,p 64). Inthesummer f 1993,fans of the Telugu actor Krishna arereportedto have 'boycotted' his filmVarasudu ecausehe wascast n a 'negativerole'.7 To cite anotherexample, n Feroz Khan'sfilms the otherhero has to die (Qurbani,Jaanbaz, Dayawan).8 By film cliche, I mean arrangement fsequences which can be recognised as'song', 'fight', 'flash back', etc. Not inEsenstein's ense of apredictablemotion-al effectof shots namontage FilmForum,pp 60-61).9 See also Damini for the deploymentof an 'action-hero' o resolve he women'squestion.10 See Prahaar and Tirangaa (Hindi),Dauthyam (Malayalam), and Aagraham(Telugu)for the army's representationsthe only solution to terrorismor crimewhich is more often thannot abettedbypoliticians.11 RajeevVelicheti,op cit.

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