Courtroom dramas: Reel vs real

Nonika Singh in Chandigarh

What is the truth of courtroom dramas being depicted in Bollywood: Phony, exaggerated, sheer flight of fancy, suspension of disbelief or somewhat realistic and authentic? 

Post-PINK, essentially a courtroom drama, when a legal luminary decided to speak up, one hoped he would point out the legal lacunas in the film. Only when Justice Markandey Katju, known for his verbal volleys, directed his ire at Amitabh Bachchan, his criticism was as misdirected as distasteful. Rather personal in nature, it had little to do with the merits or demerits of the film. And again brings us to the question: do our films with courtroom dramas use the legally correct lexicon? And more importantly should they?

Amitabh Bachchan, who played ace lawyer Deepak Sehgal in PINK with reasonable restraint and authenticity says: “Since it is court, because it is legal, because it deals with articles of law and Constitution, because it involves honourable justices, because it involves designated protocol, I think it would only be prudent for any maker to get it real and right -- unless, you are prepared to face a PIL -- in time.” 

Courtroom dramas are not a new cinematic offering. BR Chopra honed it to an extent it almost became a character in itself, integral and inevitable dramatis personae. Be it his timeless Waqt or later offering Insaaf Ka Tarazu, high-tension court scenes remained the USP of his cinema, and of many others. But in recent years, more and more films have begun to capture the reality. Authenticity is certainly not an overrated virtue in the context of cinematic language, more so in relation to legal subjects.

Saurabh Shukla who won National Award for his portrayal of a session judge in Jolly LLB argues that authenticity can’t be viewed as a stand-alone phenomenon. “Realism has to serve the drama of the film. Besides the profession of the film’s protagonists can’t decide the treatment of the film. It’s the genre that dictates.” Indeed, in a realistic film and one based on real incident, facts have to be right and served rightly too. No wonder when Raj Kumar Gupta was making No One Killed Jessica based on the sensational murder of Jessica Lal he couldn’t and didn’t compromise on facts.

Script writer Sanjay Chauhan (of Paan Singh Tomar fame) is thinking of penning a script around courtroom. He insists he would try to understand the proceedings of the court as best as he can. 

Raj Kumar Gupta observes that since law has seen many progressive amendments, cinema can be the perfect launch vehicle for dissemination and awareness of these laws. 

Indeed, in cinematic language fact and fiction can’t be completely divorced from each other. Words such as ‘ba-izzat bari’, thrown at us ad-infinitum and ad-nauseam may not be part of the legal jargon. 

But then who knew that an out-and-out filmy dialogue ‘tarikh pe tarikh’ delivered in a ham-handed fashion by Sunny Deol in Damini would become an anthem of sorts underlining what ails our judicial system. 

Long live cinema and long live judiciary and the twain shall continue to meet for better, let’s hope, not for worse.

‘Reality of courtroom is a studied research’

PINK is not just another film for Amitabh Bachchan. He talks about his powerful and restrained role in the movie, as well as the reel-versus-reality of legal dramas. 

For the role of lawyer in PINK, did you do any extra homework or simply followed the director’s vision?

I just followed what the director asked of me. We did have debates on what and how Deepak Sehgal would behave. What you see on screen is an outcome of those discussions.

In a scene you even say “fair enough” to your adversary? Very reasonable portrayal of a lawyer...do you think courtroom melodrama is a thing of the past?

The language, protocol and attitudes of lawyers in courts underwent a great amount of research by the production team. The particular incident you speak of is a result of what was noted and observed in various real-life cases. Lawyers in court use all kinds of arguments and devices to win a case. Perhaps, being reasonable was a clever ploy by Deepak in the case in PINK.

Do you think Indian cinema’s depiction of courtroom scenes has come a long way from Andha Kanoon days to PINK?

Certainly in PINK the reality of the courtroom is again a studied research, and yes, it sounds and looks different from what may have been observed in other films. But I am no one to pass judgment, pardon the pun, on how a particular scene needs to be depicted by a particular director.