One of the most-viewed streaming channels, Netflix, released an Indian web series called Black Warrant. The show is an adaptation of a book by a Delhi-based Tihar Central jailer, Sunil Gupta, and senior journalist, Sunetra Chaudhary. The creators of this show are Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh, who previously created highly acclaimed feature works like Sacred Games, Udaan, and others.
Black Warrant starts with the pilot, the Snake, acquainting us with key characters, including the newly-appointed Sunil Gupta. Recruited as the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) with two others in the short-staffed Tihar, where the occupants are mostly the undertrials of the capacity 700. Each episode has the intersectionality between caste, class, complicity of jail administration, unchecked violence, and drugs. Despite the adaptation of the original stories, the creators have taken the creative liberty to have the involvement of cinema appreciators.
The show took years to prepare, which is understandable through their writing, which is well-crafted but processed in two parts. The beginning is the subversive relationship between exiting inmates from the iron door of the infamous Central Jail of India or the decision declared by the court, echoed hanged till death. Their exotic world is visible by the primary arcs through the relationship between cops and gangsters, where the prison is humanised by bringing telephonic conversations at midnight, summarised as a workplace drama.
A cursed employment
The place isn’t considered suitable for employment, where the pilot episode gives the evident example of the assignment from the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Tomar, played by Rahul Bhatt. The task was directed to Sunil Gupta to determine the truth about two inmates killing a snake due to a rule within the Tihar to reward 15 days of reduced sentence for killing the reptile. This task not only introduced Sunil Gupta to the intricate nature of truth, but also taught him that not everything is as it seems, and it demonstrated the extent to which people, particularly desperate prisoners, can reach for the smallest of mercies.
This is also where the character Tomar is introduced, who not only looks after the administration in the jail but also mentors three newly recruited ASPs. His character is wily and overconfident in bringing peace between rival gangs in a prison; it is another responsibility of the father and husband, where one can sympathise with the corrupt character, even if one cannot completely agree with his reasoning.
Another revelation of the Black Warrant is their supporting characters, Dahiya and Mangat. Dahiya is a casually violent Haryanvi cop who ties inmates to beat them plump but also has unbridled rage at getting betrayed by a trusted friend; the character has an emotional subplot where uttering words during difficult conversations becomes tough. On the other hand, Mangat is like a dam; he prefers calmness with his friends during conflict and hesitates to express his troubles, which makes him drown in alcohol. However, his rage comes forth in the last episode, where the decision is made to transfer the duties of the Sikh personnel in the jail administration to another department in the aftermath of the Indira Gandhi assassination. He questions the cold and clinically evident racism of DSP Tomar.
Difference between fiction and reality
While growing up, everyone takes inspiration from something; one could be a fictional character from a favourite novel, a sportsperson, or an event, such as the landing of spacecraft on the moon or Mars. Humourously, the central character (Sunil Gupta) chooses the police force because of Dharmendra’s supercop character, Sunil from Aankhen. However, he is that boy who tries to be a man who doesn’t hesitate to dust himself off after being knocked down. Sunil Gupta confronts these situations that arise on several occasions, whether it was the hanging of Ranga and Billa or revamping the prison by shifting several prisoners to maintain peace.
The appointment of Sunil Gupta as the Assistant Superintendent of the Central Jail was a well-focused scene. His superior informs him of no vacancies and never receives instruction of his arrival. Black Warrant is rooted in a true story; Gupta received support from the well-dressed gentlemen, whom he ambiguously thought of as a high-ranking official. The swanky life enjoyed in prison was the bikini-killer Charles Sobhraj (Siddhanth Gupta), who secured stopovers by women. He escapes the premises by intoxicating the guards on duty while celebrating his birthday to repeat his modus operandi. These scenes have the visual flair of Motwane that continues to maintain Charles as the 70s film star.
When one gets to the second episode (Gallows), we identify the famous executioners as Dilip Kumar and Rajesh Khanna of the Jail Universe. Even the members introduced in the Black Warrant are given an intro montage with a retro score. There was another pulpy flashback tone used for the jailbreak by 180 students detained in 1983 and kept in B-class cells. Prisoners held up in that cell had the freedom to sit and talk with their family members without being separated by a barricade. The visitors took advantage of the sweat and heat to transfer the mark on their wrists on the wrists of detained students, which brought the failed mechanism of the jail authorities as they couldn’t ascertain thrice as many people who had gone inside the premises.
Travesty of justice
The pivotal moment in Sunil Gupta’s life occurs when Kartar and Ujagar Singh, tired of their ten-year relationship, request a change in ward. This is when Gupta gets to know their offence; they murdered Vidya Jain, wife of Dr. Jain, who promises to pay them Rs. 500 to commit the act. However, the court declares the order to hang for committing the act as they were unworthy to live in the civilised society. Thereafter, Sunil Gupta understands the financial struggle of inmates as they failed to hire lawyers, and some received a decision in their favour from the court to release but struggled to secure the bonds.
The concept of plea bargaining was introduced in the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 to release undertrial prisoners on bail and one who has undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period specified for any offence under any law. The Model Prisoner Manual 2016, circulated to states and union territories, has chapters on Legal Aid and Undertrial Prisoners and addresses guidelines to have facilities with prisoners serving as undertrials at the cost of the government. The number of undertrial prisoners serving more than one year in the jails of the country as of December 31, 2022, is 1,34,799.
One of the producers is Confluence Media, founded by investigative journalist Josy Joseph, so the show digs deeper to address the power dynamics between jailers and inmates. However, these processes aren’t enough to alleviate the poor and the desperate from its maze. This becomes evident as the assistant Gupta learns to compromise, changing his habits from consuming meat to using profanity like a sailor. The final scene of the Black Warrant is satirical as it suggests that becoming a sovereign democratic isn’t enough as the dysfunction continues, and the ink never dries to sign the black warrant for a tumultuous India.
The show is streaming on Netflix.
