Trahimam, Review: This MLA stands for MLA Murderer of Loyal Associates

In Hindu mythology, when human’s faced insurmountable tragedies, they invoked the Gods by crying out, “Trahimam” (spelt Traheemam in the Hindi title of the film). In this film, only one couple is shown undergoing untold misery, at the hands of the local legislator and the mafia. In particular, the woman is the victim of multiple rape, over a period of time. The makers were inspired by what they said was a true-life incident that occurred in Kanpur in 1983, where over 100 police personnel persons raped a woman in custody over a period of 10 days. The makers did not reveal why shifted the location to Dholpur in Rajasthan. Of course they did not have to explain why they have curtailed the number of rapes and the duration of the woman’s custody. After all, how much can you show? At the press show, they said that they had muted all the abusive words and expected a UA certificate, whereas this writer strongly feels that Trahimam deserves an Adults Only A certificate. UA or A, is the film worth watching? Read on.

A local legislator (Member of the Legislative Assembly/MLA), Veer Pratap Rana, in Dholpur (Dhaulpur), Rajasthan, a state in the north-west of India) is corrupt to the core. His election expenses are funded by three mafia dons, Brijesh Singh, Anand Pal, and another, who run illicit liquor dens and stone quarries. In return, he offers them full freedom to conduct their businesses without fear of the law. When their demands become too much, he decides to stand for the position of Member of Parliament (MP, a much higher status) on his own fire-power, without any funding from these three. Having made that decision, he first over-runs their liquor dens and gets all the personnel killed. When the bosses come to him to find out why this happened, he gets two of them killed in his home, in a way that it appears a mutual quarrel that led to firing of bullets on both sides. The third he keeps as a witness, to toe his line.

On another level, a labourer in the quarry gets married to a very beautiful and luscious girl, Champa. He then asks his boss to give a her a job too, in the quarry, so that he can meet the daily expenses, which they agree to. But the owners of the quarry have a roving eye for her. At the first available opportunity, one of them tries to rape her, but she escapes by biting his hand. Later, however, several persons overpower and rape her. When her husband goes to the police station to file a complaint, she is taken into custody, on the pretext of a medical examination, and several policemen rape her. Even her employer, who happens to be in the station, gets a second chance, which he is not willing to let go. In the police station, there is a dichotomy: on the one side is honest, pot-bellied, cop Satya Prakash and on the other side is corrupt to the core, lean-mean, Yadav. The MLA gets Satya Prakash killed, in broad daylight and threatens the witnesses with a similar fate lest they open theor mouths. But there is a tiny ray of hope. Officer Arya Thakur, known for her upright stance and anti-criminal persona, is transferred to Dholpur. Will this be the Trahimam of the victims, heard by the Gods?

Taking all the writing credits is man who goes by the simple one-word name of Salman. There have been scores of films made on the legislator-police nexus and the good cop-bad cop conflict. This one is another. Only here, the legislator is a trigger-happy warlord who goes on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. The honest cops too have their work cut out for them and have to put their lives on line. Moving at breakneck speed, the screenplay does manage to make the film pacey and the dialogue is suitable for the characters. No extra effort is put in to develop accents, and it sticks to basic Hindustani, which is fine. Does the script rise above the benchmark set by many such films in this genre? No, it doesn’t. Is it different in treatment, from the others? Yes, but not significantly so.

The Hundred Bucks (2020) was Dushyant Pratap Singh’s feature film directorial debut. Not having seen that one, one can only comment about Trahimam per se. Firstly, Singh has chosen a title that suggests that the cup of sins committed by the sinners in the locale of the film runneth over, and that the Gods have to intervene. There is no denying that the substantial body count and the multiple rape count (only one victim) make it amply clear that the sins and crimes of the bigg bosses of Dholpur have exceeded all barbaric parameters. There is little or no novelty in the treatment of the plot. Dialogue is spoken staccato and loudly, and the background music comes at you unrelentingly. There are many loopholes too.

What happened to the dozens of bodies of the goons manning the illicit liquor breweries? Why does Arya Thakur hand over a confessional statement to the very colleagues who are out to destroy all evidence? Why does she and her squad shower bullets upon a criminal on the run, only to capture him alive and get him crushed under a truck later? Why does she have such a small role? Viewers would be delighted to see more of her. Who is the mysterious colleague she summons to counter the falsified evidence of the criminals? If he was powerful, why did his word not prevail? If he was a small fry, why call him at all? Why does the character played by Mushtaq Khan keep repeating, “Shoot me, shoot me” when the MLA asks his fellow don to shoot him down? Was it a case of temporary insanity? Why does the MLA suddenly decide to go on his own, without electoral funding from the trio? If he already had the resources to contest a bigger election, then why did he need to depend on the trio for the lower level election in the first place? How did Satya Prakash survive for as long as he did, among colleagues on the take, since he was known as an incorruptible cop? If so many people rape one newly married woman, why would they spare others? To his credit, the director has shown no titillating nudity, and the one scene where Arya lifts up Champa’s skirt to check her wounds and is revolted by the sight, is done tactfully. Treating the court proceedings as a montage, with intermittent voices, is a fine technique. However, the proceedings, when heard, could have been riveting, if well-written. Several swear words are muted, and that might be to make a case for a UA certificate.

With Bigg Boss behind her, model and Internet celebrity Arshi Khan makes her big screen debut in the film, playing Champa. It’s a role that needs mainly screaming and shouting and looking what a multiple rape victim would look like. Besides, of course, looking luscious. The latter view is not really exploited by the camera, and there can be two opinions about the same. Pankaj Berry has the Tenali Rama (TV series) bald look, and enjoys a role that needs him to rise two notches higher than his personality. The ubiquitous Mushtaq Khan is cast as one of the Mafia dons, Brijesh Singh, and given one scene that becomes unintentionally funny, when he beseeches his partner in crime to shoot him, as ordered by the MLA. Adi Irani is another don, with not much of a role. Raju Kher cannot escape looking and speaking like his brother Anupam, and he is given the routine, small role of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police. Ekta Jain acts as the Defence Counsel, with confidence, though most of her scenes are drowned in a montage of the court proceedings. Lending good support are Sohit Soni, Sumendra Tiwari as Ramdas, and Ramit Thakur as Raghav. Names of other actors were not available.

Music consists of mainly wails, composed by Piyush Ranjan. Maanish Murradiya has penned the lyrics, sung by…hold your breath…Dushyant Pratap Singh. Suhas Rao’s camera and the scissors of Sunil Yadav and Arun Yadav are just about average, with the lighting and colours posing a few problems, while the cutting is done in a roller-coaster style, with an eye on length, or so it would appear. I cannot remember the length, but it must be in the 90-100-minute range.

Fans of cops and criminal subjects, who like a deluge of bullets and a large quantity of blood, might aim for this one. Others may train their sights elsewhere.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgOi9JB4-KI

Rating: **