Stolen Directed by Karan Tejpal
Stolen
Directed by Karan Tejpal
Starring: Abhishek Banerjee, Shubham, Mia Maelzer, Harish Khanna, Sahidur Rahaman, Ankit Sain
Country: India
Year: 2023
Review author: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
“He is a baby stealer.”
For years, India has been the centre of an intense, vile and sordid business: surrogacy. Wealthy exploiters used the misery of millions of Indians. The population of India in 2023 is 1,399,179,585 (1). The percentage below the poverty line was 21.9% (1), that is, about three hundred million people live in abject misery. A staggering number.
Many entrepreneurs, lords, industrialists, despots, bosses, financiers, tycoons, and the petty bourgeois, leveraged their economic and social class to purchase what is forbidden in their own country: the body and soul of many poor women. In 2015, the Indian parliament banned commercial surrogacy for foreigners. It remains permitted for Indian couples. Additionally, strict parameters and rules were established for domestic surrogacy arrangements.
The speculation on Indian women was shameful. It became a grotesque “baby factory” (2), a terrifying evolution of the worst capitalism. Capital ownership not only takes advantage of the labour of workers but also buys total submission, corrupting the womb itself:
“Earlier, men and women were made bonded labourers, but now even wombs are being made to do bonded labour …” (3)
Indian women were locked in compounds and treated like chickens:
“Further, in the Telangana fertility center (Padmaja fertility center at Bhongir), more than 50 surrogate mothers were found confined in buildings adjacent to their center. They were being held until the birth of the child. This restricts their movement and even though they were provided with food and shelter, confining those (about 50 persons) in a room is a way of exploiting their mental and physical health.” (4)
Often, after giving birth, surrogate mothers have a feeling, an impulse, a maternal instinct to keep their newborn. Can a mother give her child to third parties as if it were in a meat market? It is psychologically and emotionally violent; no amount of compensation can compensate for the suffering.
Surrogacy is pure colonialism, exploitation bordering on slavery, because it abuses the difficulties of depressed nations:
“... calls surrogacy “biological colonialism”, adding that it was worse than other types of colonialism.” (5)
Such behaviour cannot be justified by the legitimate desire to have a child, as this aspiration could be fulfilled through other means.
The phenomenon was considerable in India. Indian women appear “shy and uncommunicative” (6), but in reality, they are simply needy, unemployed and burdened with debts:
“Surrogacy is the source from which these women are earning for the future. Maybe only a little bit, but something.” (7)
…
“Surrogacy exploits women mentally and physically. Women in desperate situations to make extra income and protect their family who has no other means of making ends meet, opt for surrogacy. Most of the women are illiterate and are not being educated on the process and steps of surrogacy.” (8)
Therefore, surrogacy is a clash between the poor and the rich, between the exploited and the exploiters, a ruthless class conflict. The director Karan Tejpal uses these arguments both metaphorically and realistically in the film Stolen, presented at the 80th Venice Film Festival, to narrate the civil division of India: “There are two disparate Indias.”
One night at a fifty and desolate train station in India. Amidst the darkness, a woman, Jhumpa Mahato and a boy sleep on a bench. The child gets up. When Jhumpa wakes up, she cannot find him. Has he been kidnapped? Certainly, he disappeared despite the investigations. Present at the scene are two brothers. Gautam is the eldest. They belong to a wealthy family. He had come to pick up the younger, Raman, for a wedding. Incomprehensibly, the two men are immediately suspected. After clarifying the misunderstanding, they join the police to search for the boy.
Due to a misinterpretation, a video of Gautam and Raman is circulating on social media, accusing them of child abduction, one of the most heinous crimes.
The people's judgment does not need a jury. It issues the death verdict as easily as minds change. The pursuers arrive in a village and come across a vast, brutal ordeal of people ready to carry out a direct punishment, issued by God and applied by the people.
The result is disastrous, notwithstanding the police's efforts to stop the lynching.
Jhumpa Mahato was guilty of renting out her womb to her wealthy masters for money: "You bought my womb." The accomplices are in the hospital. A disadvantaged servant driven to the most despicable of crimes.
Karan Tejpal studied in the USA. He combined Indian themes with American ones, transposed onto his homeland.
The depictions are of a hostile and cruel India. The others are the surrogate womb and that of summary justice.
The subject was born from an event that happened in 2018 in Karbi Anglong in Assam:
“The story of the Bansal brothers in Stolen is inspired by an incident that took place in 2018 in Assam. Two men were violently attacked and lynched at the hands of an enraged crowd who had mistakenly understood them to be kidnappers based on falsified videos that tore through communities via WhatsApp.” (9)
...
“In Karbi Anglong in Assam, two boys were lynched, because they were going fishing and the villagers thought they were child kidnappers. He pitched it to me as a one-take of this entire lynching, the whole film in one take. And I thought it was fascinating. At the time I was developing a series on missing people, and missing children in India. And I felt the stories could come together. Just the story of the lynching is more shock than emotion. And then we developed the story thanks to the timing, this was during the pandemic and we lived close to one another and could work on it and develop it and that’s what is the film today.” (10)
A WhatsApp video holds the weight of Moses' tablets. Bored social media users have no doubts about a YouTube clip. It is the end of a method of producing news through mediation, or rather, the disappearance of a readily identifiable reading. The mass media collapsed suddenly due to a generalised moral corruption. The political and social exploitation of information sources also existed in the previous world, but the difference was the presence of culturally advanced journalism, biased professionals who were intellectually capable of taking sides even against it.
Now, in the absence of valid journalists, everything appears real, even falsehoods.
The author reworks the maxim of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: "if the facts won't fit in, why so much the worse for the facts".
It creates an obvious philosophical dichotomy. Good and evil are confused, the director explains:
“The story allowed me to explore the truth of human beings as complex and contrary beings, and that no person can so easily be cast as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.” (11)
Good and evil are chaotic, complex and indistinguishable, while ideas and reality are clear and determined.
It is the madness of street justice, the “court of public opinion”.
It is an extremist doctrine, a belief in direct justice, an analysis of the facts without mediation. Therefore, the evidence is not important, it is rather an annoying burden. The director:
“… an opportunity to explore this idea of the ‘court of public opinion.” (12)
Exploring the inspiration of the “‘court of public opinion’” is the purpose, and the consequence of this court is unsettling.
How does this concept fit into contemporary India?
The director’s view on India:
“What truly inspires me is the opportunity to craft stories from the contrasting world that surrounds me – a world that can at times be unforgivingly brutal, yet also incredibly humbling in its portrayal of humanity. Every time I look around, I see the vulnerabilities faced by those without power and the gradual erosion of trust in our established social systems. In our expansive and diverse nation, a stark demarcation emerges between the privileged few, who wield overwhelming power, and the vast majority, who find themselves disempowered. These are the distinct dichotomies I allude to as the “two disparate Indias.” Stolen starts with the collision of the two parts and ends with them coming together to achieve a common goal.” (13)
India suffers from profound social injustice. It reflects a Marxist economic stratification. Expressing dissatisfaction is not enough.
The two Indias clash with each other, but this has always existed. The battles have been numerous. It is not a religious problem but a social one. The ruling class did not hesitate to use colonisation to their profit. The Islamic domination and the subsequent British one had merely one priority. The replacement stemmed exclusively from an adaptation of India, following the rules of an industrialisation and commercialisation more profitable than the Arab one.
Stolen is set in this post-colonial environment. India must rebuild a national identity to free itself from poverty. A difficult goal to achieve without an international revolution in politics and society.
The brothers are from a wealthy and comfortable class, but they are massacred by the underprivileged. They are hunted by a endless crowd of idlers, ignorant and foolish people. Is this India’s social equity?
Gautam Bansal is a wealthy man. Well dressed with a nice car, he wants to spend the evening with his mother and relatives. He reflects the image of a happy middle-class family. Initially, owing to his laziness, he refuses to assist the woman.
Raman Bansal is the younger brother. He is the most disinterested. He left home. On impulse, he supports the mother's baby and rushes to help her, landing himself in dangerous trouble.
Gautam is proud, right-thinking, cynical, distrustful, selfish and prudent. His introspective path has a positive direction. He is martyred; all his characteristics are due more to indolence. The bleeding, wounded, unconscious Gautam is not haughty, sanctimonious, jaded, egocentric, cautious, or rhetorical, but he is capable of following and upholding legality, not that of public opinion but that of truth and facts.
This transformation culminates in the second half, when the film turns into a Western on the road. Throughout the journey, their relationship transforms. The filmmaker describes this psychological arc:
“The relationship between the two brothers is slightly strained at the beginning of the story. Their differing views of the world cause an estrangement that is often seen between siblings. The relationship starts to change after a major inciting incident, which shakes Gautam’s core and opens him up to the harsh but true words of his brother. When the trio comes under attack by outside forces, one realises that the fraternal bond is strong and it is clear that both care for each other in a deep emotional manner and will support one another through thick and thin.” (14)
In the face of the enemy, the brothers are united, ready to protect each other.
Jhumpa Mahato has exclusively one facet. She was forced to procreate a newborn for money. Once born, as in other women, the sensitivity of motherhood prevails. Is it possible to sell a child? The money was always less than that collected by predatory pimps exploiting their position, cowards who commercialize human beings.
Karan Tejpal mixes topoi with great skill. The fast camera movements, razor-sharp editing, a noir-drenched script, and vibrant writing create relentless tension and pacing. It opens with the grit of crime noir. The boy’s disappearance sparks chaos to uncover the kidnappers and their motives. This section holds the plot well, though its simplicity and brevity do not deeply engage the viewer, a deliberate choice. This part helps to develop the character and the relationship between the two brothers, to show the existing disputes. There is a repressed anger, a lack of communication, something unspoken. The imagery is dark and hides everything.
Then, there is a change. During their search for the baby, they reach a village. The fake video preceded them. They are discovered and the crazy second part begins. They are discovered and the crazy second act begins. It is a continuous hunt, chases, shootings, and falls. The genre is that of the Western. The villains pursue them on horseback, ready to ambush their target. The stagecoach turned into a car, and the horses have become motorcycles. It is a modern, brilliant film, Stagecoach. The pursuers are inhuman yet they also have a sense of justice, the awareness of being right, of being the good guys. The hanging cannot be missed, nor can the cavalry’s arrival, and the policemen arrive to save the hapless fugitives. However, is it sufficient? In this moment, the brothers’ bond changes in a cathartic manner. When adversity begins, they defend each other. The initial issues have been overcome, the anger has dissipated.
Two languages, two opposite styles, the same criteria in the shots.
The story is linear. Presentation of the characters. Genesis of the conflict. Consequences and plot twist. The plot twist is devastating. The reasons for the woman's escape from the child, the misdeeds inside the hospital and the private justice of a group of fanatics.
Contrary to the director's perspective, good and evil are exactly recognisable.
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/india/#economy
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/28/paying-for-baby-trouble-with-renting-womb-india
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/2/3/indias-growing-rent-a-womb-industry
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/2/3/indias-growing-rent-a-womb-industry
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/28/paying-for-baby-trouble-with-renting-womb-india
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/28/paying-for-baby-trouble-with-renting-womb-india
https://venezianews.it/en/daily-2023/interview-karan-tejpal-stolen/
https://venezianews.it/en/daily-2023/interview-karan-tejpal-stolen/
https://venezianews.it/en/daily-2023/interview-karan-tejpal-stolen/
https://venezianews.it/en/daily-2023/interview-karan-tejpal-stolen/
https://venezianews.it/en/daily-2023/interview-karan-tejpal-stolen/
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