Satyameva Jayate

Milap Zaveri's vigilante drama Satyameva Jayate is straight out of the 1980s, but some of moments speak (in their own cockeyed way) to our fretful present. The price of petrol is moving heavenwards and so is grubby-handed police inspector Damle, snarls burly cop-killer Veer (John Abraham).

Vir (John Abraham) is Batman on steroids. Unlike the caped superhero, who is Gotham's guardian angel, he isn't concerned with the whole of Mumbai but wants to weed out it's corrupt policemen. And he exercises a scorched earth policy while on his mission -- soaking them with kerosene or any other fuel or even alcohol and setting fire to them.

Haunted by troubled memories and seeking to avenge the wrong done to his policeman-father, Veer (John) decides to take the law in his hands. He sets out on a mission to eliminate corrupt cops. After four khaki-clad cads are burnt alive, righteous police officer, DCP Shivansh Rathod (Manoj) is entrusted the responsibility of bringing the criminal to book.

It is easy enough to ridicule 'Satyameva Jayate'. God knows, it renders itself vulnerable to severe slamming. It wears its jingoistic patriotism on the sleeve and every other visible part of its canvas, growing more and more shrill with every frame and dialogue.

A mysterious man in a hoodie drags an unconscious fella towards a wooden pyre. As soon as the latter regains senses, he discovers he is tied to the logs, loud sounds of Sanskrit shlokas are booming all around and the tall hunk is going on and on about some matchstick analogy.

Life is short so I'm going to give it to you straight - Satyameva Jayate is an excruciating film. It's soul-crushing in exactly the same way that director Milap Milan Zaveri's last film Mastizaade was. Except there the visuals - Sunny Leone in various stages of undress - were easy on the eye. Here there is blood and broken bodies and scorched flesh.

A killer goes about cremating corrupt cops - pouring ghee, reciting mantras and lighting their pyres while they are still alive and kicking. Why is he doing it? The most incorruptible officer DCP Shivansh Rathod (Manoj Bajpayee) is quickly pressed into action and given charge of the mission to nab the "good" goon.

We all have seen corruption and apathy in the government and police force etc. from close quarters at some point in our lives. Most of the times, we have not protested and merely given up since the thought of taking on the system is just too much. But imagine if you could teach these corrupt officials a lesson. Milap Milan Zaveri's SATYAMEVA JAYATE promises you to get into that space and give you a kick in seeing baddies facing a crushing defeat from an aam aadmi, as evident from the trailers.

Remember those films from the 70s which mostly featured an upright cop, a cynical anti-hero and their epic clash with lots of dialogues about 'kaanon ko apne haath mein mat lo'? Milap Zaveri's recent release Satyameva Jayate starring John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee is a throwback to those films... and I don't mean it in admiration!

Vir (John Abraham) is a vigilante, with a heartbreaking back story, who burns alive the corrupt policemen. Shivansh (Manoj Bajpayee) is a fearless, brave and honest policeman who faces and tries to stop Vir from his killing spree. Vir follows a pattern in order to choose the to kill the corrupt police officers & Shivansh tracks down that pattern.

Satyameva Jayate, the slogan that's written on every cop's cap below the national emblem of India is the crux as well as the title of this film. As the name suggests, this Milap Zaveri-directorial is all about truth and its triumph over the unjust. However, things like these exist only in the pledges we take and the books we read that add charms to those untouched bookshelves of our house. The film has intended to bring to life that asphyxiated yet alive notion of integrity, burrowed in a shallow grave in our heart.

Ever since the trailer of the film dropped, it was evident that Satyameva Jayate will be a massy entertainer that will take on corruption in an unforgiving manner. Starring John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee in key roles, the film promised some high-octane action sequences and good old revenge drama with a patriotic twist, what with it being an Independence Day release and all.

Two years ago, writer-director Milap Milan Zaveri made a conscious shift to reinvent himself. Raakh, a thriller with a runtime of around 20 minutes, was a seismic shift from the raunchy comedies loaded with double entendres and puns that had thus far lined his filmography. From Masti to Grand Masti, Kya Kool Hain Hum and his last directorial Mastizaade, Zaveri has reinvented himself to action thriller Satyameva Jayate.

It's Independence Day and John Abraham, after Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, is all set to infuse in you a strong feeling of patriotism with his Satyameva Jayate, amid a migraine-inducing background score. The film is the latest in Bollywood's slew of nationalism-inducing films. It's another film where the flag waves dramatically, there are dishonest cops (that's become a permanent trope in films now), and people spew Sanskrit verses as if they were born with a Sanskrit textbook pressed in their hands.

The actor Varun Dhawan recently said that patriotism needs to be felt, not said. It is an indication of our times that level-headed statements such as this are considered brave. We have been conditioned - thanks to sycophantic social media accounts, the imposition of pointless laws and most forcefully, a torrent of nationalistic films - to believe that to prove ones patriotism one must have an image of the national flag as ones profile picture, and the words 'proud Indian' as ones bio.

John Abraham is definitely a smart producer. From Vicky Donor, and Madras Cafe to his most recently released Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, there's no denying the fact that as a producer, he has always come up with something fresh and unconventional. In his latest production Satyameva Jayate, the actor takes on the subject of police corruption that has spread its ugly seeds all over Mumbai.

Veer (John Abraham) takes on the mission of killing corrupt cops in the Mumbai police force. Haunted by ghastly incidents from his past, he turns into a vigilante and Veer has his own mysterious plan of action. Meanwhile, honest and intelligent inspector Shivansh (Manoj Bajpayee) is given the arduous task of tracking down the cop killer.

In every bit of every frame of Satyameva Jayate, the truth stares us in the face: it is the sort of vigilante action flick that one thought Bollywood had successfully put behind itself long ago. The makers of this violent anti-corruption drama (written and directed by Milap Milan Zaveri) do not seem to have the slightest clue how dangerous its kill-and-burn messaging is in an era in which mobs need little provocation to resort to extra-judicial methods to spread fear.

A hooded vigilante is roaming about in Mumbai, setting fire to corrupt cops, easily evading capture, and notching up the gruesome numbers: you close your eyes, and another one goes up in flames. The film takes its objective very seriously indeed. We are shown stacks of wood, kerosene cans and matchsticks, and burning human flesh, over and over and over again. And again, just in case we'd forgotten.