Newton

This good-natured satire of India’s democracy unfortunately has a wider pertinence. World-wide, the once ascendant democratic movement appears in possibly mortal retreat, eroded by the rise of right-wing tyrannies and oligarchs pretending to populism. This danger appears throughout the Third World, of course, now including the USA.

The hero is an idealistic but incompetent civil servant who against all odds strives to meet the literal requirements of an election poll in a small remote rural community, under threat from Maoist terrorists. He is often framed within the shot as if in a box or an isolated nook. He defines himself by the restrictions he accepts, in contrast to the other characters' assumption of license. 

When Nu Tan Kumar changed his name to Newton he unwittingly assumed the persona of democracy. As his senior manager informs him, the historic Isaac Newton proved the democracy of the physical laws of nature. In physics, he demonstrated, the same laws apply to everyone. 

But not so in the realities of the world’s largest democracy. The citizens are far from equal. Isolated communities are disconnected from the political debates. For knowledge of the voting conditions themselves they are susceptible to misdirection or disqualification by democracy’s enemies or abusers. The new tech stymies them.

The punctilious Newton is at constant odds with Aatma, the commander of his protective military unit. The general’s pragmatism makes Newton’s even modest success possible but falls short of the ideals and principles of the movement. 

Aatma himself is the victim of hierarchy when a senior officer steals his spotlight before the press. Aatma acknowledges his advantage that undermines the democratic ideal: “When spoken wearing a uniform, even a request seems like a big threat.” 

When Aatma fakes a terrorist attack in order to close the polls before night will endanger his troop, he acknowledges the vulnerability of the free and open government system. Equality may be a supreme value but it’s more an aspiration than any reality. 

Aatma’s men pay lip service to the democratic Newton. But frustrated with his simple-mindedness, they are driven to beat him up. Newton himself turned gun-wielding despot to enforce his principles. The scene demonstrates the fragility of the democratic ideal, even among its defenders.  

If Newton falls short on his official undertaking, at least his personal life retains some promise. The idealist offends his family by rejecting an arranged marriage to an uneducated minor. The film closes on a hopeful note. Newton is visited by the attractive, smart, resourceful woman who assisted him on his rural mission. They will go for coffee — but not until Newton spends another five minutes typing something, when his official coffee break formally begins. However vulnerable and doomed, bureaucracy reigns.