Director & Story: Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Every Indian fears court. Many of us tolerate many social evils as we don't want to get into court matter. Indians courts are notorious for trials that goes on for years. The victim ends up spending lot of money and time without justice in sight.
Mohan Joshi though aware of this apathy manages enough courage to sue his landlord for ignoring the repair work required in chawl. Chawl is in such a bad shape that one day it might fall like pack of cards. Landlord doesn't want to spend money on it ,as he is getting same rent set by his grandfather 75 years back which is worth nothing.
Years go by, Joshi and his wife makes rounds of the court without justice in sight and lawyers keep filling their coffers.Even Joshi's neighbors instead of supporting him ridicules him. Landlord in effect sues Joshi for eviction and assault.
After years of fighting when Joshi decides to give up a ray of hope comes in the form of an honest judge. Judge decides to visit the chawl and have a look. Landlord to avoid losing hires people to clean up and paint the place so that judge feels that he is taking good care. When the Judge visits chawl people and landlord enters into altercation, judge defers the judgement saying that he needs a structural report from engineers to decide. Joshi frustrated starts hitting the bamboo which is supporting the staircase of the chawl, the bamboo falls along with the staircase and the floor above it killing Joshi as well.
Film is biased towards tenant without taking landlord's position into consideration. Landlord is shown as villain who wants to build skyscraper on the chawl's land. I don't agree with the portrayal because if we put ourselves in his shoes we would have desired the same thing. You can't expect someone to do repair work that will cost thousands of rupees (as per 1984 standard) when you pay Rs.2 as rent.
What film gets right is the apathy of our court procedures. Justice delayed is justice denied. Indians don't trust the judiciary anymore because of the time spent on the trial. Fighting the trial in court itself becomes a punishment for the victim. Why there is no time limit for a trial ? Why court have summer holidays like school kids when so many million cases are pending? Why can't court work overtime? Why it can't be open 24/7? If people in corporate can slog why not government employees.
The failure of the judiciary system is one of the main reason for Indians getting exploited in the hands of corrupt people.
Every Indian fears court. Many of us tolerate many social evils as we don't want to get into court matter. Indians courts are notorious for trials that goes on for years. The victim ends up spending lot of money and time without justice in sight.
Mohan Joshi though aware of this apathy manages enough courage to sue his landlord for ignoring the repair work required in chawl. Chawl is in such a bad shape that one day it might fall like pack of cards. Landlord doesn't want to spend money on it ,as he is getting same rent set by his grandfather 75 years back which is worth nothing.
Years go by, Joshi and his wife makes rounds of the court without justice in sight and lawyers keep filling their coffers.Even Joshi's neighbors instead of supporting him ridicules him. Landlord in effect sues Joshi for eviction and assault.
After years of fighting when Joshi decides to give up a ray of hope comes in the form of an honest judge. Judge decides to visit the chawl and have a look. Landlord to avoid losing hires people to clean up and paint the place so that judge feels that he is taking good care. When the Judge visits chawl people and landlord enters into altercation, judge defers the judgement saying that he needs a structural report from engineers to decide. Joshi frustrated starts hitting the bamboo which is supporting the staircase of the chawl, the bamboo falls along with the staircase and the floor above it killing Joshi as well.
Film is biased towards tenant without taking landlord's position into consideration. Landlord is shown as villain who wants to build skyscraper on the chawl's land. I don't agree with the portrayal because if we put ourselves in his shoes we would have desired the same thing. You can't expect someone to do repair work that will cost thousands of rupees (as per 1984 standard) when you pay Rs.2 as rent.
What film gets right is the apathy of our court procedures. Justice delayed is justice denied. Indians don't trust the judiciary anymore because of the time spent on the trial. Fighting the trial in court itself becomes a punishment for the victim. Why there is no time limit for a trial ? Why court have summer holidays like school kids when so many million cases are pending? Why can't court work overtime? Why it can't be open 24/7? If people in corporate can slog why not government employees.
The failure of the judiciary system is one of the main reason for Indians getting exploited in the hands of corrupt people.
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