9/11: And How It Changed the Hindi Film “Aatankwaadi”
It’s quite interesting that in the week leading to the seventh anniversary of 9/11, we had three Hindi films releasing on the theme of terrorism, namely, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Tahaan’ and ‘Hijack’.
As Naseer’s “Common Man” ranted passionately on his helplessness, his supposed impotence and his desire to ‘answer’ at the end of ‘A Wednesday’, I reflected on the progression of two graphs which it represented. Firstly, that of the “Common Man” – an image of whom is indelibly inked in our mind by the peerless R.K. Laxman. The “Common Man”, as an observer, with his bemused and often ironical view about the state of affairs had suddenly transformed to the “Common Man” as the playmaker who runs the game and holds a city to ransom. Secondly, ‘A Wednesday’ coming on the back of a surfeit of ‘terrorism linked movies’ in the year seemed to close the loop on what I consider …










