Reality Bytes. Review on Terrorist

To this day I’m pretty sure that there is not a single Indian who did not get shocked by the terrible tragedy that befell rajiv Gandhi on the fateful 21st of may 1991. As a 13 year old I watched in horror as the story unfolded and I learnt for the first time in all my sheltered life that there were people on this earth who could blow themselves up to bits just to further a cause. You can say it was a sort of end to my innocence. That left me wondering as to why and what reduces a person to entrench themselves so deep into a cause and prepare practically all their lives to snuff the very life out of them with the press of a button.

My query has been answered to some extent in masterpiece film rendered by ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan in his first full length feature film ‘The Terrorist’. The story traces the journey of a nineteen year old Sri Lankan suicide bomber Malli ( portrayed by upcoming actress Ayesha Dharker) as she embarks on a journey to assassinate a VIP to exalt her people’s cause. Hers is a story of how suicide bombers evolve from innocuous teenagers to youth completely deprived of an education, exposure to sexuality or anything considered harmful by their Leader. These unfortunate souls don’t even live up to 22 because they are sent out into the world to either kill the enemy or end their own lives. No person is born with such ideas in their heads and Malli is no exception. She is a result of her training to kill without hesitation or doubts, brainwashed by people she looks up to who make her believe that as a martyr she is making her people proud.

Sivan who excelled as the guru of vistas in films like ‘Dil Se’, ‘Kalaapani’, ‘Roja’ and more recently ‘Fiza’ has created powerful visual imagery that can put any special effects wizardry to shame in this particular film. His affinity to nature reflects very significantly in most of his scenes like the recurring ones showing Malli under droplets of water while she bathes and contemplates in her mind whether to go ahead with her mission or take another turn. The jungle where the most scenes have been shot is haunting, emblematic and echoes very evocatively the darkness in Malli’s conflicting soul soothe effect it has on the eyes is a very probing one. He also looks to capture beauty in one of its most basic and natural of forms. Ayesha Dharker’s expressive eyes do most of the talking revealing very deftly the character’s ambiguous emotions regarding the mission and her position in the scheme of life.

The script however has its pros and cons. It sort of drifts between contexts without any sense of lucidity; quite jarring at times. The other thing that catches your attention is the lack of insight into Malli’s family lineage. In two isolated instances you find out that she is the sister of a legendary suicide bomber who was the first in his crowd to consume cyanide. However the remainder of the cast keep the thread of the movie from breaking. These characters, like those of Lotus the little scout , the old farmer or his comatose wife are more or less very real and precise to the detail in their honesty. But the main protagonist Malli remains the star of the piece, a peculiar mixture of selfishness because her desire to be recognized is so strong, and selflessness because she is giving herself up, for something she will never see.

THE TERRORIST won prizes for best film and best director at the 1998 Cairo Film Festival where he also earned the patronage of the versatile actor John Malkovich. The acclaim for this film has actually catapulted Sivan into the international league just like ‘Bandit Queen’ had paved the way for Shekhar Kapur. If not for curiosity “the Terrorist’ is worth a viewing to promote and encourage more Indian directors to bravely push barriers and take parallel Indian cinema to higher dimensions.