MAACHIS, the Movie

Recently I saw the Hindi movie MAACHIS. Lovely depiction of the milieu of Punjab at the height of its militancy ( reminded me of "Operation Blue Star" on this very day of June, exactly 31 years ago). Arguably, it was Chandrachud Singh's best performance ever. He looks and aptly fits the bill of a Punjabi lad, peeved at the system and police brutality, veers into wrong path. Taboo and Om Puri, both played stellar roles. The crisis (as usual) was created by the Congress government who turned one Sant Bhindranwale, a non descript,  small time preacher into a charismatic leader, catapulting him into limelight. 

 

As Khushwant Singh mentioned in his autobiography, Giani Zail Singh famously described Bhindranwale as SADDE DANDA "our stick" to beat the Akalis with. Well, eventually the genie escaped from the bottle and the DANDA became a huge stick to cause the pain to Congress and Nation's back. The man's myth still lives on. It's not unusual to find T-shirts figuring his turbaned head with flowing beard and cassettes containing his speech in parts of Punjab, especially in the rural areas. His simple slogan JO DARTA WOH SIKH NAHI AUR JO SIKH HAI WOH DARTA NAHI..( one who fears is not a Sikh, one who is a Sikh never fears), caught the imagination of the Sikh youth of the time.

 

The violence and senseless killings reached its peak in late 1980s when the Punjab problem seemed to have gone beyond solution. I met an Odia chap, who was lucky to survice one such attacks in JCT Mills, Phagwara. One night, a bunch of terrorists entered the plant compound and wrapped up all the outsiders get could. Then they forced them stand in a line and shot them randomly. But before doing their cold blooded target practice, those heartless folks took some time, poking fun at their victims who were crying and begging for their lives. Our Odia guy was standing in a dark corner. In the commotion, he decided to take his chance. He slowly back stepped, jumped off a wall and ran away, luckily surviving the volley of bullets sent after him. The next morning (Night time bus services were banned in Punjab those days) he left Punjab forever, determined not to return again.

 

Lots of water has flown since in the 5 rives which make Punjab. The Khalisthani militancy is dead. it's probably the only insurgency successfully countered by the government, though it had its role in creating it at first place. As the name of the movie suggests, a spark from MACCHIS (match stick) can flare up an inferno. We now have its parallels in Maoist movement across different states (not sure why it is named after Mao who hardly cared for or visited India, Naxalite is more appropriate as it refers to a village in Bengal). Hopefully, we learn something from History.