SARKAR

"Sarkar ko khatm karana aur sarkar ki soch ko khatm karna, do alag baatein hain..."
-Sarkar
Or something like that... I saw this movie yesterday. A typical RGV flick, splendid direction, good pace, flawless performances...a superhit beyond any doubts.
On the other hand, on exploring this creation from an artistic point of view, I think that Sarkar tries to address one of the very basic fundamentals of our social structure but ends up getting lost in its own plot and characters, letting the thought just surface in the one line written on the top. Power, is the theme of the movie, but what is power, who has it and who decides that, are some questions that are left to the empty minds of viewers like me to juggle with.
The theme has been relevant since the birth of life. But I am not referring to the power to do something,i.e, one's capacity. I am talking about a more dangerous version of it- the power to control. It is then, that a person of capabilities similar to mine can determine the course of my life. When someone has that power, my success is not judged by what I achieve. It depends on what he decides to give me.
Think about your exams. Does it sound relevant now? Its just one example of the misery the power of authority can bring to an individual. You must have had a teacher, a professor, a boss, a higher authority who must have terrified you more than Osama. (He still tops the list though!) Despite being a far better human being than millions of your contemporaries in your own way, you now had to behave, dress up, walk, talk, come and go, eat and sleep and do everything else you did your way, the way he(/she) wanted you to. Its not that what he(/she) wanted you to do was wrong or the way you existed was wrong. Its just that your ways were different because you two were different. Thats the essence of individuality. And that was what you had to sacrifice because he had the power to waste 6 months of your life. (thats what they do to med students... Sad, isn't it?)
Man is NOT a social ANIMAL. He is not social because he is not an animal. Yes, we need society for our survival, but our instincts are far from social. We respect our individuality. We respect our differences. Our intelligence doesn't allow us to be otherwise.
The power to control one's life seeds fear in his mind. My life is a statement of me. It should say who I am. A scared person who can't live his own life can't make use of his own capacities. With the suppression of his individuality, the controller destroys every talent he possessed. All roads to expression and hence materialisation of his ideas are blocked. This is the most basic level at which power operates. An afraid individual can't give his best. How can a society, a nation or the whole mankind for that matter, progress when its afraid of the power that controls it?
Therefore, I don't understand what is the aim of those who want power. To me, it seems like the blind chase for money, when you don't know what you want to do with it. You go on accumulating without an aim or a dream. Its like an endless, dark pitfall made of greed. To give one the authority to fail a student is not empowering him. It totally depends on the individual how he uses it-as a weapon to dictate or as an incentive to make people perform better. But once the sensibility to use it positively is overcome, there is no limit to how illogically destructive one can become. And the most important part is played by those who submit to the power, those who let themselves be controlled. More often than not, they don't have a choice. But when they do make a choice, a revolution is born.
It all begins with a thought.
So do you think that being powerful actually means having control on others?
Do you think its the power of the suppressed to empower his suppressor which is greater?
Or do you think its good that you have the power to close this window and never come back again?
Do respond.