Just finished watching Paan Singh Tomar (PST). I had not anticipated the film to be good and kept on postponing watching it. It has turned out to be a real good film and I recommend it without reservations. The film beautifully brings out the the depravity of our system. I depicts the individual greed so strongly built into our psyches, and the apathy and exaggerated self importance of our self-serving government machinery. It sympathetically highlights the fact that faced with these callous elements the only option before an upright and straightforward citizen is to opt out and oppose the system despite an almost assured gloomy outcome.
The film is set in the era of 1950s, the time when foundations were being laid for the newly born Republic of India. Our traits shown in the movie persist to date unchanged, more or less. The central character, PST, is a born athlete and joins the Indian army. In an interview with his officers he proclaims the government to be immoral and a thief while showing great respect for the uprightness of the defense forces. After an early retirement PST returns to his village where he is confronted by his avaricious cousin and a corrupt and indifferent government machinery.
I was abroad when the film was released. I do not know if the film was promoted the way some recent imbecilic films like Bol Bachhan have been. But if its collections have not been good it could only be due to lack of promotion as its name does little to suggest the brilliance of the movie.
A must watch movie.
A passing thought: We have all witnessed how the surface tension between defense and government on account of their perceived different traits has ultimately and unfortunately resulted in drawing defense closer to the government and not the other way round. This is brought out by the defense establishment figuring prominently in some of the recent scams. Look at some of our neighboring countries where the army has no such moralistic pretensions but has succeeded in keeping the political system subservient to it and under its thumbs!!
The film is set in the era of 1950s, the time when foundations were being laid for the newly born Republic of India. Our traits shown in the movie persist to date unchanged, more or less. The central character, PST, is a born athlete and joins the Indian army. In an interview with his officers he proclaims the government to be immoral and a thief while showing great respect for the uprightness of the defense forces. After an early retirement PST returns to his village where he is confronted by his avaricious cousin and a corrupt and indifferent government machinery.
I was abroad when the film was released. I do not know if the film was promoted the way some recent imbecilic films like Bol Bachhan have been. But if its collections have not been good it could only be due to lack of promotion as its name does little to suggest the brilliance of the movie.
A must watch movie.
A passing thought: We have all witnessed how the surface tension between defense and government on account of their perceived different traits has ultimately and unfortunately resulted in drawing defense closer to the government and not the other way round. This is brought out by the defense establishment figuring prominently in some of the recent scams. Look at some of our neighboring countries where the army has no such moralistic pretensions but has succeeded in keeping the political system subservient to it and under its thumbs!!
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