I happened to watch ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’ about an year back, with high expectations. After all, it is known for being Indian take on Sydney Lumet’s Fantastic directorial debut movie, 12 Angry Men. Also to ERHF’s advantage, i haven’t seen the original, which does not cloud my judgement and lets me assess the movie to its own merit.
As i just mentioned, previous experiences cloud our judgement. This forms the main theme of the movie. Does a person from lower class deserve to be given a benefit of doubt? Does a liar always lie or maybe in some situation a liar might also tell the truth?
Movie starts with judge, instructing 12 jurors to unanimously decide the fate of a slum dwelling boy accused of killing his father. All evidences point towards the boy. It seems like an open and shut case to the all of the jury. All but one juror. Juror 8 is not convinced, either of boy’s guilt or his innocence. You see, its matter of life and death, and there is no harm over going through evidence again.What follows is the discussion over boy’s guilt, and examining of all evidences.
Beauty of the film lies in the fact that on closer looks evidences are not fool proof, and jurors are not unbiased or specially interested in dispensing justice. How the judgement changes from unanimous guilt to unanimous doubt is fascinating to watch. Before this happens jurors must be confronted, and made to reason. Jurors must confront their own prejudices. Prejudices come in form of class prejudice, younger generation prejudice and plain non-chalance for a human life.
To flesh out the conflict, ERHF boasts of impressive performances from likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Annu Kapoor, KK Raina, in that order. Basu Chatterjee, controls his cast and performances with great skill. With most of the film shot in a room, Basu cleverly places his camera as to transport viewers into the same room. He makes us the thirteenth juror.
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla is undoubtedly a fine jury/courtroom drama made in India. It has made me curious about the original, which i think is one of the biggest compliment a remake can get.
Written By Ali Naqvi.
As i just mentioned, previous experiences cloud our judgement. This forms the main theme of the movie. Does a person from lower class deserve to be given a benefit of doubt? Does a liar always lie or maybe in some situation a liar might also tell the truth?
Movie starts with judge, instructing 12 jurors to unanimously decide the fate of a slum dwelling boy accused of killing his father. All evidences point towards the boy. It seems like an open and shut case to the all of the jury. All but one juror. Juror 8 is not convinced, either of boy’s guilt or his innocence. You see, its matter of life and death, and there is no harm over going through evidence again.What follows is the discussion over boy’s guilt, and examining of all evidences.
Beauty of the film lies in the fact that on closer looks evidences are not fool proof, and jurors are not unbiased or specially interested in dispensing justice. How the judgement changes from unanimous guilt to unanimous doubt is fascinating to watch. Before this happens jurors must be confronted, and made to reason. Jurors must confront their own prejudices. Prejudices come in form of class prejudice, younger generation prejudice and plain non-chalance for a human life.
To flesh out the conflict, ERHF boasts of impressive performances from likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Annu Kapoor, KK Raina, in that order. Basu Chatterjee, controls his cast and performances with great skill. With most of the film shot in a room, Basu cleverly places his camera as to transport viewers into the same room. He makes us the thirteenth juror.
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla is undoubtedly a fine jury/courtroom drama made in India. It has made me curious about the original, which i think is one of the biggest compliment a remake can get.
Written By Ali Naqvi.
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