What Is Truth ?. Review on Neru

In religion or spiritualism the omnipresence and realization of a Supreme Power - the Creator of the Universe - is the absolute and ultimate Truth. This Supreme Power is known as God.

God created human beings. Unfortunately, humans created various versions of truth making the term relative. Every moment, consequently, has its own truth seen from different perspectives.

The Malayalam courtroom drama Neru or The Truth(streaming on Disney Hotstar) is about the relativity of human perception - how a moment's truth can be presented and re-presented from different perspectives and angles so that the victim's truth can be falsified by re-creating truth by the perpetrator of crime.

Sara, a blind girl(Anaswara Rajan), is raped by an unknown assailant who visits the victim's neighbourhood for a day and comes to know that she will be alone for a few hours at home. The rapist leaves no clue behind. There is no eye witness too as the raped cannot see her raper.

But the girl is a talented sculptor. She had learnt the art before she became blind at the age of twelve due to medical cause. She sculpts the face of the raper. She had touched, rather felt the face of the raper, with her fingers, during the forced intercourse. She also identifies the raper at the Police Station the same way by figuring out the contours of his visage and hair by touch or the said tactile method.

The rapist happens to be the son of a rich businessman of Mumbai who, goaded by his wife, engages the most expensive defense lawyer, Advocate Rajashekhara(Siddiqui), who is known to employ very twisty ways to win any case. Because of his domineering presence and arguments no Prosecutor can or is ready to stand up to him. As always is, the rich overpowers the rest with means, money and muscle!

During the proceedings, the defense lawyer not only shuts his opponent up but also goes on to defame the family of the plaintiff to the extent of even insinuating that the poor girl was actually raped by her father, Mohammad, who is not her biological father but her step father.

In spite of greedy lawyers(including family members - Mohammad has two sons and wife by his first marriage) taking advantage of the weak situation of the victimised family, Sara, Mohammad and Sara's mother decide to continue to fight on. In the meanwhile, the Chief Inspector, who is investigating the case, is removed from the case because he refuses to compromise evidence. However, even after his removal from the case he unofficially keeps helping Sara and his family to find a Special Public Prosecutor to defend her.

Through a known source, he approaches Vijay Mohan(Mohan Lal), a former lawyer who used to work under Rajashekhara to appear for Sara in Court. Vijay Mohan refuses at first. However, after meeting Sara, he reluctantly agrees to take up her case though at the same time confessing that he is not fit to fight the case.

Vijay Mohan, though still very much into law, has lost touch with trials.(He only gives legal advices). He also does not have adequate confidence to stand against his former mentor. But he knows the crooked means Rajashekhara adopts to be victorious. The defence lawyer does not have any scruples and he teaches his daughter(Priyamani), who is also a Supreme Court lawyer, to be likewise.

Vijay Mohan was once in love with Rajashekhara's daughter. But when Rajashekhara came to know about their relationship he was unhappy. As was his ways, he wrongly alleged Vijay Mohan of professional misconduct and ousted him from job.

With such precedences, it's all the more difficult for Vijay Mohan to fight Sara's case against his ex-boss and ex-lover who also attends the trials to assist her father.

Mohan Lal, as Vijay Mohan, is stupendous. It's awesome to watch how he is at first bullied by his former employer, how he gradually regains confidence, after years of non-practice, as the case proceeds and finally by an unprecedented means turns the table on the perpetrator and wins the case.

Anaswara Rajan as Sara is a heart stealer. Her undaunted courage to go on, in the face of opposition and crude prosecution tactics, is inspiring.

Siddiqui as the hateful defense lawyer manifests how facts can be distorted and played with to camouflage reality.

As I said in the beginning, humans are the only creations of God whose truths vary from one another. The criminal poses that he is not guilty. It is the truth that he wants to manifest by hook or by crook. The victim seeks justice by presenting sets of facts which are his/her truth according to his/ her perception.

If by any means the perp wins, his truth is established in front of the world. The victim's claims are condemned as false and overshadowed by the proven truth. As in this case, ultimately the victim gets justice and walks head held high and without covering her face from the world, her truth is sustained. Truth is relegated to a mere gamble in the hands of those who can either choose to be fair or unfair, as the case be. It is not always the righteous who is victorious and defeats the wrong. In reality, there is interplay of a plethora of factors, which can change the throw of dice in the game.

Neru is a Malayalam movie. Malayalam is said to be the most difficult amongst Indian languages. It is spoken in the peninsular state of Kerala which is also famous for its backwaters. I watched the movie dubbed in Hindi. One great contribution of OTT is that it has thrown open a variety of movies and series in various national and international languages, dubbed or with sub titles, which can now be relished by movie and web series lovers like me.

I am really finding it very exciting indeed to explore the contents of Indian Cinema in all its flavours and also world Cinema of different cultures and languages.

I had heard a lot about Mohan Lal and his acting prowess. I got to see him at last in a memorable character. It was not over the top nor too understated. Court room dramas tend to be theatrical at times but Director Jeethu Joseph has kept the script technically strong and realistic. More so, as it very clearly reflects the tendency of the judge to be a little swayed by senior and famous Advocates, their pleas and their dramatic moves to tilt the case in their favour. At first, the judge was clearly not convinced by the Prosecutor but in the face of undeniable and legal proviso backed additional and fresh petitions/findings he has to admit the counter arguments and exhibits.

Incidentally, after a string of unsuccessful releases, this is a come back movie for Mohan Lal. Neru is a commercial success as well as critically acclaimed film. It is the third highest grosser Malayalam film of the year and fifth highest grosser Malayalam film of all times.

I have not studied law. For fifteen years my job has involved certain amount of investigative and quasi legal work. Undoubtedly, I have an interest in the subject. Also, no doubt, such movies which tend to be strongly scripted, technically sound, backed by purity of subject and superbly executed are a treat to watch.