It ‘s a rare happening that a film which to be released on a particular day, finds the announcement on the same day, about its selection for India’s entry for Oscars. But, this has happened in case of Friday released Hindi film ‘Newton’ produced by Manish Mundra and directed by Amit V Masurkar. The film had already invited attention before its release, during its participation at few international film festivals abroad.
The film revolves around a young government clerk who is on probation. He is selected for training of election duty and finds his duty as a presiding officer at a place which was earlier under naxal influence and where there are only 76 eligible voters with Voters’ card, belonging to adivasi community. When Newton reaches to nearby town along with his two assistants, they are joined by a local teacher, to assist them with the local language and list of voters . With the help of security personnel headed by a security officer, they pass through conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh.
From the very beginning after meeting this so called security officer Atma Singh, Newton confronts him, while he suggests him to play safe and not to take the election seriously. But, Newton honest and committed presiding officer, tries his best to go ahead with his own plans for polling. What actually follows, has been very realistically presented by the director, to show the positive attitude of the presiding officer to protect the democracy of this country. Only non convincing scene in the climax is when Newton is shown behaving like our typical Hindi film hero, taking the law into his hands, by snatching the rifle of the security chief in desperation. He could have handled him using his diplomacy , as shown in previous scenes. Nevertheless, barring this scene, the film has been presented very well, to capture the attention of the audience from beginning till end.
In the role of Newton, Rajkumar Rao is simply superb and so is Pankaj Tripathi as security chief. But, fine performance also comes from veteran Raghubir Yadav as Loknath the assistant of Newton, who really succeeds creating humour in every scene he has been part of this film. In the role of local girl Malko, Anjali Patil has given full justice to her character. Her expressions and body language are perfect.
Many local adivasi are also part of this film, playing real characters and their expressions speak about their sufferings. Sound effects have been used very well in this film, besides background music. But, the excellent cinematography by Swapnil Sonawane gives more realistic look to this film. The film does conclude with a timely message. A must watch film for all, to know how elections are conducted in troubled remote areas in our country .
Rating : ****