With the spotlight on crimes against women, an acid attack on a female student outside her coaching class, leads to a scene that’s all-too-familiar today. Whether Manipur, West Bengal, Rajasthan or Udipi in Karnataka, the sequence of apathy by authorities, vulgarisation of the victim by policemen and the hush-up attempts, social poison (kaalkoot) is spread over different levels. A session for the police force to instill awareness on how to handle crimes against women falls practically on deaf ears as derision and disgusting language prevail at a local station in UP.
But if you can wade past the initial wave of crude obscenity which makes you wince (especially from senior cop Jagdish Sahay and Yadav, a junior), there are several social takeaways that director Sumit Saxena packs into eight episodes. And it isn’t restricted to women’s issues.
The personal and professional growth of disinterested new sub-inspector Ravishankar Tripathi (Vijay Varma) may be predictable but unfolds with such ease that it’s a chalk-n-cheese contrast between what the show starts with and what it ultimately salutes. From looking at his parents’ marriage with disdain to discovering nuances in it and appreciating his late father (Tigmanshu Dhulia, only in a portrait), is a smooth transition. As is his maturing from casually discarding photographs of prospective brides to seeing them as human beings. After he is drawn into investigating and solving the case of acid attack victim Parul Chaturvedi (Shweta Tripathi Sharma).
Along with co-writers Arunabh Kumar and Karan Singh Tyagi, the change in tone sets in at the police station too as the show which starts off with such obscenity tones down and practically vanishes as the enormity of the social crimes around them seeps in.
Does a girl who has shared compromising photographs of herself with a boyfriend/fiancé become a whore (or ‘randi’, as Jagdish offensively puts it)? Is uploading her photographs on a ‘hot’ site kosher? Do boyfriends have the right to decide her morality?
Although dismissive of everything around him, reluctant to learn policework and ready to give it up, Ravi is sharp. It’s he who notices Parul’s father cuddling up to his male German Shepherd as his ‘beta’ and noting that this is not a pet lover as much as a man disappointed that he has only two daughters.
There’s much that comes wrapped around the acid victim’s story. Cops who discuss rape laws and hit their wives at home. A sexologist treating a homosexual to become a man. Rejected lovers and the dhokhe ka dard. The Nari Cell in UP ineffectively handling complaints from women by counselling over the phone, bringing family and friends into the conversation and closing their cases. There’s a reference to a partnership between JKLF that enforced burqas in Kashmir and a burqa manufacturer who made a killing in the bargain. Sharmila Tagore, the Kashmir Ki Kali, who wore no burqa. Also, a swipe at someone getting beaten up because his wife signed a petition for women to pray in a mosque.
Infanticide and prospective brides being assessed and discarded are also woven in.
While Vijay Varma carries the show on his now-familiar shoulders, Seema Biswas as his mother and Shweta Tripathi Sharma as the acid victim provide him proficient support.
Once awoken, “I’m as bad as the acid thrower,” says Ravi reflectively. But the arousal of his conscience and progressively correcting the image he sees of himself comes in an ancient packaging. There are overlong background songs and a prospective bride turns up to clean his bed and cook for him to prove her eligibility. And then there is the reluctant cop turned super cop turned superhuman who can keep fighting forever even with a rod pierced through his chest.
But, although questionable on many fronts, the social messaging in Kaalkoot deserves a close look.
Rating: 3/5
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