Man Of The Year : Poll-Khol Aur Jhol

crazyrals | Movies, Talking-Points | April 28, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.
- A dialogue from the movie

Since politics is in the air, the campaigning for 3rd phase of polls is over, this is the right time to watch a movie about election of a US President to the office. This movie, written and directed by Barry Levinson, released in 2006 and stars Robin Williams in the lead role of a stand-up comedian.

Tom Dobbs [Robin Williams] hosts a comedy show and takes pot-shots at the political class. In one such show, a member from the audience suggests that he should stand for elections as a candidate for US Prez. The idea which is dismissed by everyone as a silly remark actually pushes Dobbs to file his nomination.

man-of-the-year Dobbs does the formalities needed and then moves on to campaign vigorously in various states of US. The movie takes some liberty in this democratic process and turns the polls as an online process. An IT firm Delacroy designs the application, but the creator of the application finds a technical snag.

In the meanwhile, Dobbs makes public appearances in debates against the Democrat and Republican candidates and is totally dominant in the show. He loses grip of the situation, spoils the decourom of the show, but at the same time he makes valid points with a lot of humor and punchlines. His popularity soars high and he becomes the favourite Independant candidate to stand for elections.

While the IT firm is informed of the snag by Eleanor [Laura Linney], the creator of the application, they shut the tap on this because of financial reasons; their stock price is rising. The election day arrives, people poll online for it, results are finally out and Dobbs ends up winning the election and getting voted to power. So, now what happens? What can a comedian do in the office? Will the seat of respect not lose a bit of its sheen? Isn’t it a dishonor to the office where a comedian occupies the highest position and that too because of a technical flaw?

Well, the movie had lots of potential to explore new grounds but they somehow the makers lost the plot here. They changed the flavor of the movie from a comedy to a thriller, where the IT firm is trying to preempt the actions of Eleanor and stop her from announcing about the technical snag to the world.

The movie poses a lot of nice questions, about the ethics and values of the IT firm which has a major bug in the application but cannot disclose it for the greed of wealth; about the political class where polticians rake-up frivolous issues and divert attention from the core issues of governance and public well-being. And the disillusionment from the politcians that drives the public to support an Independant comedian because they feel Dobbs can represent them better.

How is the post relevant in the current situation? We have Shekhar Suman standing for elections from Patna Saheb, against Shatrughan Sinha. Shatru is know for his one-liners and quick wit, he even writes funny answers to serious questions in Filmfare mag. Shekhar Suman, the best recognised face of stand-up comedians, the man who started it all with Movers N Shakers pitted against Shatru. We have Navjyot Singh Sidhu running for the 2nd time from the same consistuency of Amritsar, he had won the last time as well. Another entertainer who turned a new leaf with his Sidhu-isms and became the permanent face of the Laughter Challenge series.

Its not just about the candidates mentioned above, that was just to draw some similarities. It applies to everybody who stands for elections, especially people from the entertainment world, and hopes to represent the people of their constituency in the Parliament House. Will these people make a mark in politics? Will their victory be a victory of democracy or end-up as a farce? Will they just be crowd-pullers in rallies or will they deliver in the Parliament house? Only time will tell, but we as citizen should make an informed choice. We should not get diverted from the real issues but make our vote count. This movie was just an entertainer, but our elected representatives will be for real. While in the movie Dobbs does realise the value of the post and feels a little inadequate, can we expect the same from our candidates to quit gracefully if found incompetent? Lets wait and watch, time will tell.