Stolen Directed by Karan Tejpal
Stolen
Directed by Karan Tejpal
Starrings: Abhishek Banerjee, Shubham, Mia Maelzer, Harish Khanna, Sahidur Rahaman, Ankit Sain
Country: India
Year 2023
Review author: Shane Virunphan
Click Here for Italian Version
“He is a baby stealer.”
For years India has been the center of an intense ignoble business: surrogacy. Wealthy exploiters exploited the poverty of millions of Indians. The population of India in 2023 is 1,399,179,585 (1) The percentage below the poverty level is 21.9% (1), i.e., approximately three hundred million individuals are in deep poverty. A very high number.
Many entrepreneurs, lords, barons, industrialists, despots, bosses, financiers, Croesians, petty bourgeois, have used their economic power to buy what is forbidden in their country, the body and soul of many poor women. In 2015, the Indian parliament banned paid surrogacy for foreigners. It is still allowed for heterosexual Indian couples. He also established a set of parameters and strict rules for renting between Indians.
The speculation about Indian women was shameful. It was a gruesome “baby factory”(2), a terrifying evolution of the worst capitalism. The ownership of capital not only takes advantage of the workers' work but also acquires their total submission, even plundering their womb:
“Earlier, men and women were made bonded laborers but now even wombs are being made to do bonded labor …” (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, a feeling, an impulse, a maternal instinct to keep the child takes over in surrogate mothers. Can a mother give up her child to a third party as if they were in a meat market? It is psychological and emotional violence, no amount paid can make up for the suffering.
Surrogacy is pure colonialism, an exploitation bordering on slavery as it abuses the difficulties of a depressed nation:
“... calls surrogacy “biological colonialism”, adding that it was worse than other types of colonialism.” (5)
Behaviors that cannot be justified by the legitimate desire to have a child, because this aspiration could be achieved with different systems.
The phenomenon was considerable in India. Indian women appear “shy and uncommunicative” (6), but in reality they are simply needy, unemployed and full of debt:
“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 in order 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)
Surrogacy is therefore a clash between poor and rich, between exploited and exploiters, a ruthless class conflict. These arguments are used metaphorically and realistically by director Karan Tejpal in the film Stolen, presented at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, to narrate the civil division of India: “There are two disparate Indias.”
One night in a dirty and desolate train station in India. In the darkness, a woman, Jhumpa Mahato, and a child are sleeping on a bench. The child gets up. When Jhumpa wakes up she can't find him anymore. Was he kidnapped? Surely. Present at the scene are two brothers. Gautam is the eldest. They belong to a wealthy family. He has come to pick up the minor, Raman, for a wedding. Incomprehensibly, the two men are immediately suspected. Having clarified their misunderstandings, they join the police to look for the child.
Due to a misunderstanding, a video featuring Gautam and Raman is circulating on social media, in which they are accused of kidnapping the child, one of the most heinous crimes.
The judgment of the people does not need a jury. It pronounces the verdict of death as easily as the people repudiate their own opinion. The pursuers arrive in a village and encounter an endless brutal ordeal of people ready to carry out direct punishment, issued by God and applied by the people.
The result is disastrous, despite the police's efforts to stop the lynching.
Jhumpa Mahato was guilty of renting her uterus to her wealthy lords for money: “She bought my uterus”. The accomplices are inside the hospital. A disadvantaged servant induced to commit the most vile of crimes.
Karan Tejpal studied in the USA. She combined Indian themes with American ones translated to her country of origin.
The representations are those of a hostile and cruel India. The others are the rented womb, and that of summary justice.
The subject arose from an event that occurred 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 video on WhatsApp has the value of the tablets of Moses. Bored social media users don't doubt the YouTube clip in the slightest. It is the end of a method of news production through mediation or the disappearance of an easily identifiable reading. The mass media suddenly collapsed due to widespread moral corruption. The political and social exploitation of information sources also existed in previous eras but the difference was the presence of culturally advanced journalism, of professionals intellectually capable of taking sides even against it.
Now in the absence of valid reporters everything appears real even the falsehoods.
The author reworks the philosopher Heigel's maxim "If the facts disprove the ideas, so much the worse for the facts".
He creates an obvious philosophical dichotomy. Good and evil are confused, the director explains it:
“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 are clear and determined.
It's the madness of street legality. It is an extremist doctrine to believe in justice carried out directly, it is an analysis of the facts without mediation. Therefore the facts are not important, they are actually an annoying burden. Director:
“ … an opportunity to explore this idea of the ‘court of public opinion’.” (12)
Exploring the inspiration of the “‘court of public opinion’” is its purpose, and the consequence of this court is disconcerting.
How does this concept fit into India today?
The director's opinion on India:
“What truly 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. Everytime 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 severe social injustice. It affects the stratification of the population on a Marxist concept of the economy. Expressing disappointment is not enough. The two Indias face each other, but this has always happened. There were many battles. It is not a religious problem but a class one. The ruling class did not hesitate to use colonization to their advantage. Islamic and subsequent English domination had a single priority. The replacement was due exclusively to an adaptation of India, following the trappings of a more profitable industrialization and commercialization than the previous one.
Stolen fits into this post-colonial environment. India must rebuild its national meaning in order to free itself from its poverty. A dimension difficult to reach without an international revolution in politics and society.
The brothers, from a wealthy and wealthy class, are massacred by disadvantaged people. Of the do-nothings, of the ignorant; gullible people hunt them down. Is this India's social justice?
Gautam Bansal is a wealthy person. Well dressed, nice car, he wants to spend the evening with his mother and relatives. He reflects the image of the serene bourgeois family. At first, out of laziness, he doesn't want to help the woman.
Raman Bansal, is the smallest. He is the most selfless. He left home. He impulsively supports his mother and immediately runs to her help until he gets into dangerous trouble.
Gautam is haughty, right-thinking, cynical, distrustful, selfish, prudent, rhetorical. His introspective path has a positive direction. He is martyred, all his characteristics are due to indolence. The bleeding, wounded, unconscious Gautam is not haughty, right-thinking, cynical, distrustful, selfish, prudent, rhetorical but a man capable of following the law, not that of public opinion but that of truth and facts.
This journey is achieved in the second part when the film turns into an on-the-road western. During the journey their relationship changes. This psychic trait is described by the filmmaker:
“The relationship between the two brothers is slightly strained at the beginning of the story. Their differing views of the world causes 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 realizes 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)
Faced with the enemy, the two brothers unite, willing to protect each other.
Jhumpa Mahato has only one facet. She was forced to father a baby for money. Once born, the sensitivity of her motherhood prevails. Is it possible to see a child? Money always lower than that collected by pimps who are predators of their position, cowardly traders in human beings.
Karan Tejpal mixes the topos with great skill. The fast camera movements, the lightning-fast editing, a script full of genres and lively writing. These abilities cause tension and accentuated rhythm to the extreme.
We start with a crime, noir genre. The disappearance of the child causes an uproar to discover the kidnappers and their motives. This section holds the plot well even if the simplicity and brevity do not engage the viewer. It is wanted by the director. This part helps to develop the character and relationship between the two brothers, showing the existing diatribes. There is a repressed anger, a lack of communication, something untold. The images are dark and hide everything.
Then there is a change. During their journey in search of the boy, they reach a town. The fake video anticipated them. They are discovered and the crazy second part begins. It's a continuous hunt, chases, shootouts, falls. The genre is western. The bad guys follow them with their horses ready to attack the stagecoach. Horses and stagecoach have become a car and many motorcycles. He is a modern, brilliant Red Ombre. There is inhumanity on the part of the pursuers but they also have a sense of justice, the awareness of being right, of being the good guys. The hanging and the arrival of our men cannot be missed, the police arrive to save the unfortunate people. But is it enough?
In this section, the bond between the brothers is resolved in a cathartic manner. When adversity begins, they defend themselves. The initial issues are overcome, the anger is gone.
Two languages, two opposing styles, the same criterion in the shots.
The story is linear. Presentation of the characters. Birth of the conflict. Consequences of the conflict and twist. The twist is relentless. The reasons for the escape of the woman with the child, the misdeeds inside the hospital and the private justice of a group of fanatics.
Regardless of the director's opinion, good and evil can be recognized exactly.
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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