15/02/2018
Movie: Newton (2017)
Review by: Jagriti Gupta (B.A. Hons. English, Semester VI)
In a cameo as senior Election Commission official, a character sums up the Newtonian vision of the movie in one of his conversations with Newton (played par excellence by Rajkumar Rao). Explaining the contribution of the historical figure of Newton, he comments how his aim was to establish and prove the universality of his laws – irrespective of the physical factors which might affect them. Everyone is equal in a post Newtonian world. Our hero Newton, positioned in a different era and socio-political context, tries to implement these social-democratic laws in this lawless jungle.
We meet Nutan Kumar aka Newton while he sits in his room, munching an apple, reading. In the background, plays a TV news channel airing the news about the attack on an election candidate by Naxals during election campaigning somewhere in India. So, our Newton comes across as an upright government officer trying to do his election duty with utmost sincerity in a world ridden by power politics and threats of violence. The trails through the Dandakaranya entail an enlightening journey, with all its highs and lows.
Pankaj Tripathi, essaying the role of the chief police officer on duty Aatma Singh, in occupying a position at the other extreme of the spectrum, helps maintain the momentum. It is the dialectic between him and Newton that propels the plot. He gives the movie some of its unforgettable moments (like the one where he is ready to vouch for zero turnout in writing) and dialogues [like, “Vardi mein vinti bhi dhamki lagti hai” (Even a plea sounds like a threat by one in uniform) or “Newton ho Newton hi raho. Einstein banne ki koshish mat karo.” (Your name is Newton. So better act like one. Don’t try to be Einstein.)]
The movie, owing to its portrayal of a world rife with strife, might strike us at first as a serious and objective movie. However, it has its own epiphanic moments. Be it the conversation with Sanjay Mishra, Newton’s riposte to Aatma Singh or the climactic ‘acts of courage’, all evoke laughter, however not without compelling the viewer to engage in a more intimate way with the movie.
In a Rashomonesque setting, there are no black and white characters here. Is Newton, in following the law of the land to the letter T, in the wrong? Is Aatma Singh with his retinue, in trying to handle the situation fully aware of the ways of the world, to be blamed? Are the Naxals, throughout present in their absence, the culprits? And as is true – there are no definite answers.
The movie raises more questions than it answers. And without serving you the ‘right’ answers on a platter, it aims to make the audience part of the deliberation process more closely. It is a poser for the viewer to figure out whether biting into the fruit of knowledge will lead to the primeval sin for the mankind or its liberation from ignorance.
