When the trailer of Sherni had dropped on YouTube, there was a mixed feeling of excitement and fear. Excitement at the prospect of seeing a film that talks about an issue that is very pertinent in our current times and worries about the Bollywoodisation of an important topic. Typically, if there is a ‘star’ in any movie, they tend to overshadow everything. For instance, Mani Ratnam was a great director till he met his nemesis in superstar Shahrukh Khan. But things were different with Sherni, Vidya Balan is not an overpowering superstar, and Amit Masurkar is a super-talented director who had given us Newton some years back. Hence, there’s more hope than fear with this film.
After watching the film on the OTT platform of Amazon Prime, I am still stricken by a bout of mixed-feeling, unable to decide whether to applaud and appreciate the movie or dis or criticize it. Like so many other movies, Sherni also comes with its positive points and not-so-positive ones. So, without much wordplay, let’s venture with Sherni into the jungles of Madhya Pradesh and see for ourselves what’s in store.
Starting with the positive points, the first one would be the topic itself. There are not many films made on such a sensitive issue. With the forests in India constantly facing the pressures from an increasing population to a government that’s inclined to capitalistic ideals that believe in auctioning off everything in the name of development. The issues related to the environment are urgent, real, and pressing. Hence, a mainstream movie that brings that to the fore is very heartening. After all, when else can we talk about issues like man-animal conflict, conservation, rights of tribal people, and so on, in the living rooms. Many Indians are ignorant about such matters, and would happily be so, simply because they are struggling to survive, let the bloody tiger go to hell. In this context, Sherni is indeed an important movie because it not only talks about conservation per se but documents one of the most sinister episodes in Indian environmental history — the murder of Avni or T1 tigress back in 2017.
For people not in the know, T1 or Avni was accused of killing 13 villagers near the Ralegaon forest in Yavatmal district in 2016. The issue had become national news, as the state government of BJP-Shiv Sena combine decided to employ the services of an infamous hunter to kill the tigress. Concerned environmentalists took the matter to the Supreme Court, asking it to intervene. The court green-lighted the killing based on certain pre-conditions being met, like the failure to trap and tranquilize the tigress. On November 02, 2018, civilian hunter Ashgar Ali Khan shot dead the tigress in apparent self-defense as the tigress leaped at him. After an extensive military-style hunt, the kill included infrared cameras, drones, paragliders, and Calvin Klein fragrances.
A fictionalized Sherni tells the story of T-12, which has killed two villagers that ventured into the jungles. As the forest department grapples with the issue of angry villagers, wily politicians, and dispirited bureaucrats, Vidya Vincent (Vidya Balan) finds herself at the epicenter of the storm. But that’s not all; Vidya has first to confront the parochialism prevalent in our society, where a lady is deemed ‘unsuited’ for a man’s job. As she is surrounded by men all the time, they are almost dismissive of her. Even the one man that she is married to is very casual about her job. Vidya’s husband finds that the only good thing about her job is the security it provides, “at least you can’t be fired like in the private sector,” he says. Thus, Sherni tells the tale of two ladies, one with the stripes and one in the khakis (rather greenish-khaki). Vidya Vincent is as much in attack from all sides, just like T-12 is.
This duality in the narrative is what I believe to be the greatest undoing of the film. To establish the challenges of Vidya Vincent, the story strays into too many sub-plots to give an insight into her character. For instance, if working in a male-dominated system was not enough, a north-south angle was put in. She is married to a north-Indian man, and her mother-in-law cannot help emphasizing the essentials of culture assimilation, like what to wear and not or how it is time to produce some babies. Vidya’s immediate boss is pretty ill-concerned about her work or, for that matter, any work, adding up on the challenges. Vidya is constantly shown balancing the ends as she silently accepts the barbs or placates the locals. She is shown as a beacon of patience and calmness, even when the car is hurtling downhill without any brakes.
Talking about the challenges, Vidya Vincent’s boss in the movie, Mr. Bansal, played by Brijendra Kala, is genuinely the real hero in the film. His characterization is perfect, as a man who is in charge but so wishes not to be. He is a disinterested government officer who very well knows which end of the bread needs to be buttered. He is very accommodative and Chameloenesque in his functioning, capable of shifting from one end of the spectrum to another in a bat of an eyelid. The scene where he is on the phone, beseeching his seniors for a transfer, sheds light on the fact that he is not a part of the charade or enjoying the show.
The tigress T-12 is there in the backdrop as the narrative plods along. While the character of Vidya Vincent feels concerned and worried about the tigress, as a viewer, it is hard to feel it that way. We are told about the degradation of jungles, the mines being dug up, but somehow the story fails to rise above the stereotypes. Tiger conservation has been one of the very few success stories in India, and its very success is one reason we are witnessing so many conflicts. As the number of tigers increases in the wild, they seek new territories, bringing them into direct conflict with humans. We are in an odd situation at the current stage, where the increasing population of humans and tigers is creating new flash-zones of conflict. Somehow, the film misses out on underscoring this aspect.
In that sense, the film seems to be very shallow, just skimming the surface of the issue without ever going to the depth. There’s very little that we see of the tiger itself or know about its behavior or even know about anything in the way things function in the jungle. For instance, at one example, Vidya takes a contractor who has not refilled a water-hole; as a result, the whole thing has gone dry. “I hope you know what are the consequences of it, right?” she lambasts him. As a viewer, I was hoping she would answer the question so that I would know too. But she leaves at it. Another time, there is the talk about the compensation offered for the kills made by the tiger, for a cattle or a goat, or even human. But the details of how much it is is not revealed.
Much of the film is supposed to be about the chase, which seems elongated and going nowhere. Our human sherni Vidya is completely out-of-sorts as she tries to engage the tigress. There’s no excitement, no pace, and no urgency as the events unfold. Meanwhile, the real sherni, namely T-12, barely makes an appearance in the film, that too in the end sloppily, only to be killed.
Years back, there was a Marathi film named Ajoba that was based on a similar theme. It captured the real-life story of a leopard that traversed 120 km over 29 days to find his way back to his home in Mumbai. The film featured Urmila Matondkar as the forest officer tracking the leopard. This film was simple and straight; it spoke about the issues around Ajoba and Ajoba alone. Indeed, there were other aspects, but this film stuck to the topic and did so beautifully. The film is also available on Prime Video and is eminently more watchable.
In the end, my fears on watching the trailer were not unfounded. Sherni is a brave retelling that falls short. The intention was right, but it faltered in the execution.
By Shashwat DC
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