'Newton' -- a sweet film with a bitter aftertaste

By Anuradha Mukherjee

A burnt out Delhi journalist heads to Mumbai and decides to try his hand at writing Hindi film scripts in the industry fondly called Bollywood. Sounds like a flop plot at the outset, but this is exactly the kind of storyline that Mayank Tewari and Amit V Masurkar can turn into a sleeper hit.

'Newton', the official Indian entry for Oscars 2018 was co-scripted with a lot of sincerity by Mayank Tewari and director Amit V Masurkar (Others)

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Both critics and audiences have approved the choice as apt for an Oscar entry after a long time. What the film manages to do is shift the attention of the south Delhi multiplex-visiting audience, even if ever so fleetingly, to the Dandakaranya forest in Central India, forbidding not just because of the Naxalites living in its dark folds, but also for being one of the most difficult, impenetrable terrains in India for hundreds of years.

Mining companies now want to make inroads into the resource rich zone. Caught in the crossfire are the adivasis, or the aboriginal populace, who have lived in the jungles for the millennia. In this melee arrives the film's protagonist Newton (Nutan) Kumar, a newly minted upper division clerk, on his first election deployment as the presiding officer of a polling booth meant for only 76 voters.

"We were ourselves shocked to hear of the decision to send "Newton" to the Oscars as India's official entry. This film released today, and even as the first show was on, the committee gave a universal decision (in favour of the film). This is a huge surprise," Tewari, who wrote the film's screenplay with Masurkar, told WION soon after news of his film's success broke out on Friday. The duo had first come together to make the slacker-comedy independent film, "Sulemani Keeda" in 2013. Tewari says he has already finished writing his next film for Ajay Bahl of "BA Pass" fame. "It is a dark love story," is all he is willing to say about his next venture.

Tewari credits Masurkar, who is also the director, with the idea of the film and much of the research.

"Amit transformed into a complete journalist for researching the subject. I am too burnt out as a journalist to help him. We visited Chhattisgarh to study our subject and terrain in October 2015. There I met one of the most amazing journalists there. His name is Mangal Kunjam. All the big names who have worked on Chhattisgarh know him," said Tewari.

He was, however, a little wary of calling it a political satire outright, perhaps worried about drawing the wrong kind of attention. "It is a sweet film, a comedy. That's why people like it so much. We have been given the Universal viewing certificate," he says, a little tongue-in-cheek, it appeared to this writer. Comparisons have been drawn with the 80s jewel "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron"and Tewari is quick to agree to the comparison.

"It is an art house film, but it's a comedy. Definitely can be categorized as in the class of "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron"class of films. There was no sexual tension in "Jaane bhi"... and whatever little is there, between the photographer and editor, it fizzles out soon. There is no such tension in "Newton", too. It is a sweet film, but yes, it also has an important message," Tewari told WION.

The film starts with a simple, but poignant lesson for the rookie government official Newton from his superior, that his namesake, Isaac Newton, established that everyone is equal in nature's laws, whether rich industrialist Ambani, or the woman selling tea to them. However, towards the end of the film, Newton Kumar finds himself pushed face down in the dust, arms twisted behind his back, completely overpowered by Aatma Singh, in charge of the security detail.

However, there are no victors or personal enmity among the main characters of the film. Aatma Singh, played by Pankaj Tripathi, is the battle-hardened soldier, trying to keep his "brave boys" from dying in an increasingly bloody battle with Naxalites, without required weapons or resources. He is merely trying to do his job and so is Newton as he understands it. They are all regular folks going about their work, made powerful or powerless by their circumstances. And somehow the adivasi is still on the fringe of this narrative, lurking in the background, other than Booth Level Officer Malko Netam, played by Anjali Patil.

The Naxalites, too, make a fleeting appearance in the beginning of the film, in a scene where a local politician is gunned down, but their threat looms as a subtext in the entire film.

"Newton"the film does not preach or go into spiels about political theory, the message the audience draws is their own to deduce. Even as this writer walked out of the theatre after the show, two young girls were discussing the film. "Matlab hamesha each nah bola chahiye, kyunki sab jhooth boltey hai (You should not speak the truth always, because everyone lies)," was their deduction.