EKLAVYA: THE ROYAL GUARD

India, 2007, 105 minutes, Colour.
Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan.
Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Films from India, from Bollywood or the more serious Bengali film-makers of Eastern India, are getting more attention around the world these days. With the biggest number of films made in any country in the world, India could flood the market. The question arises: which films make more impact for a non-Indian audience? Eklavya is one that can be considered.

This is a lavish production, widescreen and colour, artfully composed images, atmospheric score rather than an emphasis on songs (which are included but sometimes as background), emotional force with love, violence and betrayal.

At first one thinks that the tale is set in ancient, even mythological times, as a mother tells her son the story of the guard Eklavya who was the best archer in the land. The envious prince that he guarded asked him to obey him in one command: he was to chop off his thumb, that eliminating himself as a rival to the prince as an archer. Obedient, he did this.

However, the setting is actually contemporary. We realise that the story has been told to the modern Eklavya who is now a royal guard. Actually, the surface looks very dignified, the emotions very moving as the queen is dying with her grieving husband at her bedside. And then…

There is plenty of melodrama and some unexpected plot turns (for those brought up in the demanding moral tradition of the American Motion Picture Code) as the story turns into the equivalent of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy – of the revenge and blood-spilling kind. Innocent-looking characters surprise us with their malice or their motives. But, Eklavya stands firm. Finally, he is presented with some moral dilemmas himself, with questions about where his loyalties lie – with the old king who is murdered, with his hero son who has more bonds with Eklavya than he knows…

It is another world and Eklavya takes us into its exotic political and social dimensions as well as the religious rituals and mythical traditions.