Sanju | Biopic on a criminal?

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, M. S. Dhoni: An Untold Story, Padman, Dangal, Sanju……… Wait, what?

A bewda, a tharki, a drug addict. Sanjay Dutt is far from what the quintessential biopic material is like. Then why is Raju Hirani, arguably the best director we’ve seen in recent times, doing a biopic on him? I mean, have we run out of inspirational stories to start making biopics on people who helped terrorists? Right?

Here’s the problem we all have with Sanju- We want all our idols to be ideals- people who have fought against the odds, wrestled against the rules of the society, so on and so forth to achieve success. We don’t want to watch a movie about a person who commits mistake after mistake and ends up in Yerwada Central Jail, convicted of illegal possession of an AK-56 rifle which was smuggled into India before terrorist attacks.

But I still want to watch it. Why? Because I want to watch his ability to navigate his ship through the ups and downs. There would be very few people whose life’s highs were so high and lows were so low. Finding this inspirational is sadly rare in our society. We, more often than not, only care about the outcome, not the journey.  I don’t mean to say we don’t value the journey. What I mean to say is your journey only matters if you win us a medal, a world cup, invent low cost sanitary pads or do something like that.

Here’s how Sanju is different: it is about a person who is a criminal, has slept with 308 girls other than his wife, has been addicted to drugs and what not. Why should his story be shown with such fanfare? Because his is a story which tells you how easily India’s rich kids get swayed in the wrong direction, it is about how brutal life is when it decides to kick you in the nuts, how the Indian Judiciary (for once) convicts a high-profile actor of his crimes. It is about how wrong decisions can haunt you for life. It is a true story you won’t believe!

Raju Hirani is known to make movies which are highly thought-provoking. May it be 3 Idiots, PK, or for that matter, Munna Bhai. He is without a doubt my favorite director for this very reason. His movies are about the hard-hitting realities and raise serious questions about what we believe in - our education, our religion and now, our inspiration. I have high hopes from you Rajkumar Hirani, don’t let me down!

Finally, a humble request to all the Dals and Senas: Please do not showcase India’s unemployment by protesting about this film like the last time. I hope you have better and more fruitful things to do. If you don’t want to watch Sanju, don’t.

Ritvik Joshi.