Govind Nihalani's first feature film, on which he is both director and cameraman, Aakrosh took the highest award (the Golden Peacock) at the 8th International Indian Film Fesival. Nihalani's career has included both commercial film and documentary cinematography, but within the New Indian Cinema movement he was, previous to Aakrosh, best known for his acclaimed cinematography on all of Shyam Benegal's features. Like Benegal, Nihalani achieves a powerful statement, designed to heighten audience awareness, within an artistic, fictional framework.
Aakrosh concerns a member of the Adivasis, a tribal community which is denied a caste, and is therefore very vulnerable. “They are referred to as a scheduled tribe. The government is trying to rid them of their stigma by giving them special advantages in education and jobs.
“Lahanya Bhiku, an illiterate Adivasi accused of killing his wife, says not a word in protest, either to Bhaskar Kulkarni, the young brahmin lawyer appointed by the court for his defense, or at the trial.... Disturbed and exasperated by this obstinate silence, Bhaskar Kulkarni investigates on his own. He discovers that Lahanya's wife had been raped and murdered by a combine of local officials, businessmen and politicians. They form the power elite who are beyond the reach of the law....
“Lahanya's silence forces the viewer to ask why.... We gradually learn (that) if he speaks nobody will believe him. Life will become even more dangerous for those he has left behind: his aged father and his young sister.
“Aakrosh is a searing indictment of this system and the society which it sustains. The indictment is made...quietly, lucidly, systematically, and, mostly, non-ideologically.” --Anil Dharkar

Please note: Shyam Benegal's scheduled visit has unfortunately been cancelled. His film, The Churning, will show at the PFA during the January-February Film India III retrospective of New Indian Cinema.