Movie Review: Emergency (2025)

 

I watched the film ‘Emergency’ (2025) recently on TV. This is the famous film made by Kangana Ranaut based on the life of late PM Indira Gandhi, and had faced legal issues before its release due to some scenes including the assassination scene.

I found the movie surprisingly good. As compared to most of the other biopics on political figures, I found this one extremely well made. Although, the film tries to capture historical events which are numerous and hence it becomes a challenge to tell the “story” and keep it about the protagonist and not get lost in the historical events. Due to these challenges, I could feel that the pace of the film was slightly faster than could have been. But I know it was near impossible to depict the enigmatic life of late Indira Gandhi ji in a single film and Kangana Ranaut has done it so well!

I remember all the controversies and press reports at the time this movie was being released. I have anyway almost stopped going to the theatres for watching movies and hence I had totally skipped this one at the time it was released. Now I realise what I had missed. But better be late than never and I am happy that I caught it on TV now.

It is very rare to lead a life which late Indira Gandhi had led. Those days, our country was poor and not strong. It is really incredible how our great Prime Ministers of those decades led our country so well. Despite “Emergency” being the theme of this film, which is considered a blot on the face of our democracy, the film does capture many more important events from the history of our country which I have read about and hence was able to relate well. Though I was not aware that Indira Gandhi was arrested by the Janata Party led Govt at the centre and later released due to public pressure. There are many more aspects shown in the film which I have read in newspapers and magazine articles, and the film has very honestly shown those without malice or political colouring. For example, the depiction of Sanjay Gandhi and his role prior to and during the Emergency of 1975. Vishak Nair, the actor who played the role of Sanjay Gandhi has given a really remarkable performance. So has Milind Soman in the role of Army Chief Sam Manekshaw. I was expecting this movie to be all about Kangana Ranaut, as the Press often depicts her, but found that the film will be memorable due to many such actors and characters, and not only for her.

It is very rare to remain relevant and enigmatic all through our life. It is also very rare for one’s death to match the enigmatic life one has led. Mahatma Gandhi had a glorious death matching his life, and perhaps the other person would be Indira Gandhi. I was a very small kid when she was killed, and I still remember the morning. I was at my hometown, standing in front of our house, when the news had broken about her death. I remember that my grandfather, father and uncles were all talking about it. Like most noble families those days, I guess my grandfather and his family were her supporters too. I have some visuals of that morning still in my mind. It is said that kids smaller than 5 do not remember much from their childhood. I don’t know how rare it is, but I have vivid memories of that day. It is a shame that this great film was marred into controversy for depicting her assassination which is very sensibly covered.

This film has tried to depict the complex personality and psychology of Indira Gandhi. I have read many articles where journalists and authors have written that it was very difficult to characterise her. She was not a simple person. And this film has attempted a near impossible task of capturing some of the complexities of her mind and her life. The movie makers get full credit for it.

I highly recommend this film for one and all. And I wish our nation is slightly grateful for the great political leaders we have had in the past.

- Rahul

 

 

 

 

Problem with Historic India - Bangladesh Land Swap Deal

Today, India PM Narendra Modi is in Bangladesh and he will be freezing an agreement over resolving land disputes by exchanging land pockets (enclaves) with Bangladesh. It will be a historic decision which will indeed prevent infiltration, disputes and inconvenience to people from both sides. Despite being a Modi fan, ever since I learnt about this plan I have been a little disturbed about it. What is the cause of concern? Before I come to that, let us understand what are these "enclaves" which the two countries will be exchanging?

Enclaves are small pockets of land belonging to a country which are completely surrounded by land of another country. The most common enclave in a way is the Vatican City which is completely surrounded by Italy. India has about 106 enclaves inside Bangladesh while Bangladesh has 92 enclaves inside India. It results in infiltration and extreme inconvenience to the people living inside these enclaves. To make it more complex, 24 of these enclaves are actually "enclaves inside enclaves"! These enclaves came into being around 300 years ago during wars between the Mughals and the King of Cooch Behar. Mughals won over certain regions but could not defeat certain local Cooch Behar Jamindars from their lands; similarly Cooch Behar King defeated Mughal forces but could not evict their soldiers from certain pockets and hence by the time a treaty was made, these enclaves came into being. Later, since East Bangladesh went to Pakistan, there could be no solution to this problem because of India-Pakistan rivalry and wars. Now let us see my dilemma about the land-swap deal.

The problem with the land-swap deal is that India is giving away more land to Bangladesh than she is receiving in return! Although the land size India is losing is only around 40 square kms. But still, our "mother India" is going to become smaller and it is an emotional issue for the patriotic population.

If we think of pure economics, this decision does not make sense. Why would someone give you a land worth hundred million and ask for another piece of land worth ninety; unless one's life or something extremely critical depended on it? I am sure even in the stone-age human beings did not do "barters" in this manner. So why are we doing it now?

If we think of the two nations, Bangladesh being one of the most densely populated nations needs land more than a big nation like India does. So Bangladesh may be able to gain more than India does by swapping land.

In international politics, such land-swap deals are associated with "monetary compensations". If we have to give some land to Bangladesh in order to simplify matters; we could take compensation. Some news reports say that Bangladesh was ready to pay compensation for the extra land it has to receive, but India said she won't take any. It displays a kind of "Big Brother" approach India naturally plays in the region. Although, India seems to have been blind eye towards how Bangladeshi political parties use the same "Big Brother syndrome" to build a public anger against India (to garner votes)! India sees such large heart gestures as her natural role; but the same largess is seen with suspicion amidst conspiracy theories about India being a ‘hidden aggressor’! So far India's foreign policies have not done anything to quell these fears. India could have been less emotional and more economics driven in order to appear like a neutral force in the region. But maybe then India won’t be like India!

There is another concern about the deal according to which more than fifty thousand villagers from both sides will be given an option to choose nationalities. I guess logically more people will choose to become part of India (since it is more economically prosperous), resulting in increase in population which is undesirable. There should have been a better way to identify nationalities.

I know that we can't really blame PM Narendra Modi government for this decision. In the past many other PMs including Indira Gandhi tried to do the same deal with Bangladesh but failed. PM Modi in a way is exerting his "strong" image when he is solving a "300 years old problem" which all past governments failed to solve. Still, India giving away more land than it receives does not make sense to me. 

I also understand that Indian governments “gifting away” lands to other nations is not new. Way back in 1974, Indira Gandhi virtually gifted an island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. In an article titled “Island Lost” (S. Raja, New Indian Express, 10 Sep, 2013) for example, the journalist writes that Indira Gandhi gifted away the island as if it were her “family silver”. So perhaps Bangladesh deal’s loss is not a first or nothing new; still I think it is not a rational decision. I call it a failure of India’s diplomacy rather than success of it. 

My solution is simple. If India accepts monetary compensation for the lost land, it will not be enough. It will appear like a nation is "selling" land for money. I think Bangladesh should make up for the loss India is incurring by exchanging enclaves. Give us another forty square kilometers anywhere along the border you find suitable. Is this too much to demand?

What do you think about it? Let me know through your comments.

Celebrating Indira Gandhi’s birthday

Today is late Smt. Indira Gandhi’s 94^th birthday. I come to know this through a news item displayed on google news. The news item also carries Indira Gandhi’s black and white portrait, with pallu of her printed saree covering her head. This reminded me of our childhood association with her.

When we were in school, my two sisters and I used to collect images of great personalities from our history and our freedom struggle. My elder sister and I were born in our grandfather’s professors’ quarters. Baba had kept many framed portraits of our freedom fighters in our home. When we shifted to a new home after his retirement, mother got many new portraits (all collected from the middle pages of magazines like Dharm Yug) framed in glass. We had Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Gandhiji, Indira Gandhi, and many others. (One curious picture of Nehruji and Indira Gandhi was taken from such an angle that it gave the impression as if their noses were touching each other). Mother got the portraits displayed on the high walls of our drawing room and bedrooms (one nail at the top, two nails at bottom, and the frame would hang slightly tilted towards the ground). Every year during the Diwali, we used to clean the pictures to make them new. After many years, some of those became fragile, so we put them on a support. We grew up under the shadows of our great freedom fighters…

While growing up, once I heard an interesting remark of one of our guests. Some visitors who were from his bank had come to see father. They saw the picture of Dr. Rajendra Prasad in our drawing room, and appreciated our father for being impartial to caste. Dr. Prasad was a Kayastha by caste and they said it was a great thing that Papa didn’t choose pictures of personalities like Pt. Nehru (who was a Brahmin) for the drawing room. I still remember this episode which happened many years ago.

When our collection of the pictures cut out from newspapers and magazines grew big, one year an interesting plan came to our mind. We decided to celebrate Indira Gandhi’s birthday. We glued some of her pictures on hardboards and some on other sheets, and displayed our whole collection at a place in our drawing room. We had plenty of very nice pictures of her, thanks to the Soviet Nari magazine which came from the USSR. We also decorated the place. Neighbors and visitors appreciated our effort. After that, we celebrated many more of such ‘days’, like Nehruji’s birthday (Children’s Day), and also days related to Rajiv Gandhi.

When I reflect on those days, I think the innocence of our childhood had kept us isolated from the realities of the world. We saw Indira Gandhi as a strong lady who had become our PM thereby inspiring all of us. We didn’t think if she could do that had she not been Pt. Nehru’s daughter; also we didn’t know about the Emergency Days when she acted like a near tyrant. We loved the immensely good looking Rajiv Gandhi without knowing the corruption charges against him. We loved Chacha Nehru oblivious of his flawed decisions leading to humiliation and loss of life due to China’s excesses. Though we still had Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose, who were almost “all good”. Now from our present generation, if I have to choose some of our great leaders, whom shall I choose? Narsimha Rao? VP Singh? Manmohan Singh? Sonia Gandhi? Laloo Yadav? Or Mamta Banerjee? I think Atal Behari Vajpayee and APJ Abdul Kalam would be an exception and their portraits can still be revered; but not a single more name would prop in my mind. With a situation like this, I think if my children decide to celebrate the birthdays’ of great personalities, they would have to stick to my own old list – Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Mahatma Gandhi and a Subhash Chandra Bose.

Are there great leaders coming anymore?

- Rahul