When Kangana released her first look as Indira Gandhi in 2022, it was one of the cautionary moments that another film is coming that can potentially question (or ‘answer‘) the existing understanding (or misunderstanding) of contemporary history. The apprehensions were higher considering MLA Kangan Ranaut being an unabashed mouthpiece for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The apprehensions were reasoned well as Kangana was making a historical drama about the darkest moments of Indian democracy—the emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975, which the current regime doesn’t miss a chance to criticise for all the right reasons.
Now, finally, after so many postponements due to complaints from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) accusing Kangana of falsely portraying Sikhs in the events around Operation Blue Star, Emergency has finally been released theatrically this Friday.
The Nehrus: As weak and meak
Emergency, written and directed by Kangana Ranaut, starts off in 1929, when Indira Gandhi was just 12 years old. We get the glimpse of the feud between Nehru’s sister Vijayalakshmi and Indira’s mother. Vijayalakshmi calls Indu “ugly and stupid,” which haunts her till the death bed, a fact documented by her biographers. The story jumps to 1962’s Indo-Sino war right after she learns what is satta (power) and the rule over Indraprastha (the mythical name of current New Delhi) from the laps of her grandfather, Motilal Nehru.
Nehru is portrayed as weak and meek, beginning with when it is shown in the film that, as he was ready to give up Assam, Indira Gandhi went ahead to save Assam by voicing the affirmation that got picked by the media. The same quality of weakness and meekness ponders upon the aura of Indira Gandhi for the entire film too, as if Kangana has committed herself as a storyteller—not as a politician—to make her character more sympathetic—by villainising her less and victimising her more.
Indira: Villain or victim?
The 21-month prolonged imposition of Emergency that India never needed, except for Indira’s fears of losing her power as Prime Minister after the Allahabad High Court convicted her of electoral malpractice for using government vehicles and employees for electoral campaigns. She was banned for 6 years from contesting elections. It can be an end for Indira—a political suicide indeed. The same phrase, political suicide, is uttered by Sanjay Gandhi (played fantastically by Vishak Nair), referring to events after lifting the emergency to announce the general elections. Speak of irony!
In the almost two-year emergency imposed on the entire nation, the unforgivable atrocities of Indira Gandhi’s regime include “censures on the press, forced sterilisation of over six million citizens, large-scale demolition of slums, mass arrests of political leaders, and an authoritarian regime that exercised excessive control over the country’s executive and judiciary,” as recalled by K S Komireddy in Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India. For the crimes of Emergency, the notorious spoilt rich brat, Sanjay Gandhi, is often blamed. In Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi takes her mother’s PM chair as she feels disoriented and sick.
Sanjay Gandhi calls every unconstitutional shot—including forced sterilisations and demolishing the houses of the poor—by becoming the second-most important person in the cabinet after the PM. Kangana Ranaut’s Indira Gandhi is reduced to just the gungi gudiya (a mute doll) that she probably was. But we don’t get to see anything deeper except the overused format of biographies by hit-and-run timelining of important events from 1945, 1964, 1966, 1975, 1977, and again 1980—the year she comes back as PM through a spectacular majority. To take the political figure as Indira and show her as nothing more than an impressionable dull doll is just an easy remake of popular understanding of contemporary history.
Emergency: A confused half-hagiography
Emergency lifted. Elections held. Jayaprakash Narayan (played by another ardent BJP supporter, Anupam Kher) becomes the PM, albeit momentarily. After Indira left with no public office, including her historic loss in Rae Bareilly, she reckons back to life with the public. When the forest officers don’t allow her convoy of vehicles, she climbs up an elephant and travels into deep forests without any food for two days. She splits the small piece of jaggery and gives it to the child and says that if your stomach is filled, my stomach is filled. She feels devastated after seeing the gareebi (poverty) and the gungi gudiya (a mute doll) finds her voice again: “Gareebi Hatao, Desh Bachao” (Remove poverty, save the country)
If the above scenes were written by anyone except Kangana, they can be easily bracketed as hagiographic. Hagiographies are all-praising political biographies. But Emergency is written and directed by Kangana and co-written with Ritesh Shah & Jayant Sinha, adapted from Coomi Kapoor’s Emergency and Pupul Jayakar’s Indira Gandhi, A Biography. It doesn’t mean that Kangana, whose political affiliations go against Congress, shouldn’t idolise Indira. But, when it comes to making a political historical film, one should have a clear vision of what one is trying to propagate and promote.
On one hand, Kangana has treated Indira Gandhi’s character like a victim of her own, but not as the sole criminal of the nation. On the other hand, Kangana also pays the hagiographic tributaries to Jaya Prakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpaaye (Shreyas Talpade), and even Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (Milind Soman). Indira is shown as seeking guidance from Vajpaaye during the crisis of accession of Bangladesh from Pakistan. She praises him, saying that he has proved that he is “not only a great statesman but also a true patriot,” and Kangana claims that he is destined to be the Prime MInister one day.
Indira may go; India must go on
After the Emergency of 1975-77, Operation Blue Star was her most controversial political misfire that cost her life, and the “sin” of attacking the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab still haunts her. The recent protests by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to ban this film in Punjab is an example of this political-haunting. (Kangana Ranaut calling protesting farmers as terrorists is also a minor reason). Indira decided to exterminate Sikh militants from the temple and prevent the creation of another Pakistan. But, she refused to not have anyone removing Sikh people from her security team. Resulting in 33 shots of bullets firing through her body.
However, the writing is lopsided; Kangana delivered a stellar performance. Kangana, as Indira, is a timid, low-confident, squeaking rebellious woman. She will be registered very quickly; she essayed the role very conveniently. But, again, the narrow writing of Emergency even makes her acting fall flat after a point, turning her into a caricature of a timidly shaky buccal region. However, Kangana again fits well with the old-aged Indira Gandhi.Thanks to the costumes designed by Sheetal Sharma.
Kangana’s lack of historical vision is clearly visible throughout the film. As Indira—who was once “India is Indira and Indira is India“—is shot dead, we hear patriotic Indira speaking into a radio: “Indira may go, India must go on.” In an attempt to create a nuance, she created confusion. In an attempt to create a truthful biopic, she created a lopsided hagiography and half-humanised Indira Gandhi, serving both sides of Indira Gandhi and the current BJP, but only criticising a few, especially Sanjay Gandhi, who left portraying Indira as nothing more than an impressionable, squeaking dull doll.
Emergency is now playing in theatres and is supposed to stream on Zee5 after its theatrical run.
