Aarakshan could be a study in Indian commercial method of filmmaking that is a successor of our tradition of epic storytelling. This film relies on the great story of Ramayana as its point of reference. Bachchan is an honest, altruist and kind-hearted principal of a college. Through devious means he is made to resign and even his house is occupied by a “bad” professor, who turns it into a coaching institute. So, post interval, the good Bachchan gathers an army of monkeys like Rama consisting of under privileged students of lower income families and in a decisive battle, he reclaims his lost glory and house like the good old Rama.

A characteristic of epic storytelling is that characters are always drawn in black and white- the good and the bad, the good one always wins and there always is a decisive battle on a grand scale. This film conforms to all these parameters. You can see the director revisiting the locations and sets of his previous film Rajneeti and barring the main cast, he uses the same set of actors. It’s as if it is a “Ramleela” team performing a “Rasleela” on the same stage on public demand.

Aarakshan is the purest form of Hindi commercial cinema, where dialogues are the key drivers of the narrative. Dialogues are always delivered with a punch and when one character speaks, everybody else listens. Story moves forward entirely through dialogues amply supported by a slightly loud background score. When emotions overflow, the narrative is disrupted for a song.

In this kind of cinema, visuals are subservient to sound. We have had a long tradition of such kind of cinema where sound takes precedence over visuals or where visuals are just functional. This is something that might put off westerners but we, the Indians have long derived aural pleasure through cinema.

The hero is the central character of such a film. He exudes such a great deal of heroic quality that superheros of the west might find themselves at a loss. Also, heroes are always put through tests, so is Bachchan. And they always emerge triumphant. They might be questioned by their own daughters, students etc. but towards the end, everybody will have a change of heart and their heroism will be validated.

Many might think so but Aarakshan isn’t an amateurish work of cinema. It’s a highly accomplished film that chooses to work within the discipline of  commercial aesthetics of Hindi cinema which the industry seems to be trying hard to write off in favour of Hollywood inspired realistic-plausible  storytelling and Europe inspired self-indulgent auteur cinema. Director Prakash Jha and writer Anjum Rajabali cling on to it and work precisely within its time-tested codes. It will be interesting to see how audiences respond to the great epic story re-telling of Bollywood.