200 Halla Ho Review: Amol Palekar and Rinku Rajguru win hearts in the fight for justice

200 Halla Ho is the fourth consecutive film in the last ten days, which is inspired by a true incident or a person's life. News is rapidly turning into cinema. Movies are descending from the romantic sky of fantasy to the hard ground of reality. Directed by Sarthak Dasgupta, the film portrays an unprecedented incident that took place in Nagpur (Maharashtra) in 2004, in which around 200 women from an area there killed a local goon-rapist-murderer in a court-filled court. This is one of the rare events in the world. But the beauty of 200 Halla Ho is that in its detail, only the story of 'Slaughter of Ravana' in the court does not remain. It makes a meaningful attempt to bring to the fore the Dalit discourse and its landscape, which is often lacking in Hindi cinema.

In recent years, films like Masaan (2015), Dhadak (2018), and Article 15 (2019) have seen Dalit plots, but these turn into hero-heroine tales respectively. 200 Halla Ho tries to bring to the fore the pain and resentment of society from beginning to end, which cannot even raise its voice against the atrocities committed against itself over the years. Here is his struggle to get justice in the police and the court. It is useless to mention caste and religion before justice, but sometimes it becomes very necessary. In front of the judge, the heroine says, 'Why not speak about caste, sir, when every moment we are reminded of our position. But the visible silence raises many tough questions. The dialogues of the film make you think. For example: 'It is not necessary to just memorize the words written in the Constitution. It is more important to use them.'

Some battles are long but necessary. 200 Halla Ho released on Zee5 also brings to the fore a similar fight. One morning in the local court, 200 women of Rahi Nagar, a poor-backward settlement of Nagpur, pierce the body of local goon Balli Chaudhary (Sahil Khattar) with a knife, scissors, screwdriver. His 'male symbol' is broken. The police could not save his life. The case becomes of the forward-backward caste. Elections are on the head and the police have to settle everything quickly. She immediately arrests five women of Rahi Nagar and gets them life imprisonment in court. The above-mentioned matter is not as straightforward as it appears. Retired judge Vitthal Dangle (Amol Palekar) begins the investigation as the chairman of a committee set up by the Women's Commission. It is this aspect of the film that slowly opens the pages of Dalit discourse. Dangle himself is a Dalit but he did not look back after rising to his social status. He does not initially agree with the words of Asha Surve (Rinku Rajguru), a Dalit woman fighting for the convicted women, but gradually the situation changes and he feels that the blindfold of the law should now be opened because Today it has become necessary to do justice not with closed eyes but by keeping a watchful eye.

The film tells how the police are usually around Dalit settlements. What is his treatment of these people? How criminals keep the police simple by feeding bribes. Here are the pictures of Dalit leaders not considering their 'owns' more than their vote bank. Talking about the upliftment of society, ultimately they want to ensure their participation in power. 200 Halla Ho is not the story of any particular character but the roles of Amol Palekar and Rinku Rajguru are strong. They represent two generations of Dalits standing at opposite ends. One who left his roots after progress and the other who wants to make his world beautiful instead of moving ahead by studying and writing. The return of Amol Palekar returning to his society in the story is tremendous. His simple-balanced acting is awe-inspiring. The magic of simplicity still prevails in his smooth dialogue delivery. He gets down to heart while defending the victims in court. If you have not seen Amol Palekar for a long time, then he alone can become the reason for watching this film.

The casting of 200 Halla Ho is good and Barun Sobti, Sahil Khattar, Upendra Limaye, Indranil Sengupta, and Flora Saini live up to their roles. Even while talking about the attack, the film keeps its point without making any noise. It is the success of writer duo Abhijit Das-Soumyajit Roy and director Sarthak Dasgupta. Sarthak has previously made offbeat films like The Great Indian Butterfly (2007) and Music Teacher (2019). 200 Halla Ho has some essentials of our times. In this sense, it is an essential film for those people who look for a lot more than entertainment-entertainment-entertainment in cinema.