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For a little more sensitivity
Shakti -- The Power shows no care in the treatment of child artiste Jai Sidhwani
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Anitha V
I was hesitant to go for Boney Kapoor's Karisma starrer Shakti -- The Power, directed by Krishna Vamsi, starring Nana Patekar, Sanjay Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan, because I anticipated a nauseating excess of blood and gore. It seems my instincts proved right.
The nausea was not the outcome of explicit murder scenes, crude language or the vulgar item song Ishq Kameena. It was from the sheer shock and disbelief that I felt when watching the disgusting, tasteless and insensitive treatment of the child artiste Jai Sidhwani.
Actors and actresses complain how a certain character misrepresents them in the public eye and affects them in strong ways. It is amazing that the sensitivity that is accorded when sketching the character of an adult star is not imparted to the character of child artistes, as seen in Shakti -- The Power.
In practically every scene, the child is shaken, dragged and pulled in every direction. Every actor in the film seems to handle the hapless kid roughly.
On several occasions, the child is seen crying for his mother (his real mother). It is obvious in the way he looks out of the frame of the shot to beckon someone.
As I watched these scenes, I kept making excuses for the director. But one scene that left me traumatised is the one where the obviously uncomfortable child is shown being bathed by Nana Patekar and surrounded by actors who play his cronies in the film.
The child's agony is accentuated further when his underpants are pulled down in a scene that is supposed to either play to the masses or make them cringe. In fact the men gathered around the child are shown looking at his genitals and laughing. The only effect this kind of depiction has is to greatly disturb any viewer with some amount of maternal instinct.
If the director was trying to make the masses cringe, he did not need this scene. There was enough blood and gore to this point to get that reaction from the audience. If he was trying to make them laugh and cheer, he needs to think about where creative freedom meets social responsibility.
It does not take a vast stretch of the imagination to understand the feelings of a child who watches helplessly as his parents put him in the midst of strangers and a camera, allow him to be stripped to his underpants, and let a bunch of men pull that last garment down to laugh at him. Obviously, the child's strongly negative reaction shows that he was, in fact, embarrassed.
There are three main issues here: first, does creative license give a director the right to overlook the effect his characterisation of artistes might have on their personal well being? Should he not take special caution to be sensitive to child artistes and avoid potentially causing them harm?
Second, if these kind of films are endorsed and appreciated by the masses, maybe schools in India need to spend more time and money on teaching morals and ethics to children. Tomorrow's youth should not grow up to find this kind of cheapness and insensitivity funny.
Finally, if there are parents that make their child undergo this kind of emotional torture, maybe childcare workers need to be encouraged in India because such parents are obviously not concerned about their child's best interests.
The powerful performances by Karisma Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepti Naval were overshadowed in my mind by the revolting images of the child being emotionally tortured for some screen time and some cash.
Anitha V is a student of Child Psychology
Also read:
Who wears the pants?
What were Sridevi, Karisma thinking of?
Readers take on Shakti: The Power
The Rediff Review: Shakti: The Power
Who is Karisma Kapoor?
Shakti-The Power: Story in Pictures
'Shakti will set the screens on fire'