Directed by Sejal Shah, Costao boasts a stellar cast that consists of the fabulous Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the enigmatic Priya Bapat. It’s a simple story about a heroic man who decided to fight against the system and expose the corrupt politician. I personally loved the banter between Costao and his wife; I loved the subtle humor, but I felt that somewhere the writers weren’t able to harness the full potential of a complex character like our protagonist and the dynamic he had with the people around him. That said, let’s find out what happened in the film and if the honest customs officer was able to prove his innocence or not.
Spoiler Alert
Is It Based On A True Story?
The Zee5 film is inspired by the life of Costao Fernandes, the Preventive Officer of the Customs Department from Goa. I wouldn’t deny that had I not been told that it is actually based on a real-life person, I wouldn’t have believed it even for a second. The sole reason for it is that you do not find people like Costao in real life in today’s time; attributes like honesty and righteousness are only found in fictional characters, as the world has become too pragmatic and too practical in its approach. But then, once in a while, somebody like Costao Fernandes decides to remind the people what their duty is towards the nation and what they should be doing. Most of the events portrayed in the film did take place in real life. That said, Sejal Shah and her team might have taken certain creative liberties to dramatize the narrative and make it more engaging.
As for the Costao case, a murder investigation was initiated after Churchill Alemao’s brother was found dead in 1991. Costao said that he had intel that led him to believe that Churchill (who also became the chief minister of Goa in real life) and his brothers, Ciabro Alemao, Joaquim Alemao, and Alvernaz Alemao, were smuggling a huge shipment of gold. According to his narrative, he didn’t have any intention of killing Churchill’s brother, but the situation got out of hand after the latter attacked him. The sessions court found Costao guilty under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The decision was made based on a CBI report, though Costao argued that the findings and accusations made in it were totally untrue. But the decision was overturned by the apex authority, which went a step further in stating that people like Costao were like heroes, whom the entire nation should look up to for inspiration.
What happened between Costao and the D’Mello brothers?
In the film, Castao, who worked as a customs officer, had his eyes on D’Mello for a very long time. He knew that the man, together with his brothers, was smuggling gold, but he could not find any evidence to prove that fact. Whenever customs officers had to conduct a raid, they had to file a formal request, after which they got approval for doing the same. Costao knew that there was a mole in their department, as the moment they filed the document, D’Mello came to know about it and changed the location of the smuggled gold. After multiple failed attempts to catch D’Mello red-handed, Costao got intel that a shipment of around 1500 kilos of gold was going to arrive in Goa. He knew that he needed to catch the perpetrators, as if the smugglers were able to sell the gold on the black market, then the entire economy of the country would be affected. Costao requested his superiors to let him initiate a formal investigation without filing any sort of document beforehand, just so that nobody would come to know about it. For 7 days, Costao patrolled the shorelines, but it was only on the last day that he caught Peter, D’Mello’s younger brother, in the act. Costao didn’t have any time to call for backup, though he did send a local man to his house to tell his wife to make a call to Naik, his superior. Costao chased Peter down, but the latter was just not ready to give up. He took out his knife and stabbed Costao several times. But Costao was able to get the better of him in the end. Costao didn’t want to kill Peter, but in that moment of chaos, if he hadn’t stabbed the man, then Peter would have killed him. The local people surrounded the car, but nobody was ready to help an injured Costao. Costao opened the car trunk and showed the people the slabs of gold that were stashed inside it. Costao knew that if he stayed there for a second longer, the police as well as D’Mello’s goons would not leave him alive. So Costao went into hiding for a few days, and D’Mello made sure that his narrative would override the truth. The media branded Costao as a murderer who had escaped after killing an innocent man, who had done a lot for the local people of Goa.
Did the CBI frame Costao?
Costao realized that he would have to surrender sooner or later, as he didn’t have any other options. D’Mello might have been a businessman and a politician, but he was first a family man; somebody had killed his brother in broad daylight, and he was just not going to let that go. His colleagues and business partners told him to not pursue the matter, but D’Mello was not ready to do that. So the case was transferred to the CBI, and D’Mello knew that he would be able to pin down Costao as the man who was heading the investigation, Sameer Narang, was on his payroll. Legal proceedings were initiated, and to Costao’s disappointment, based on the report made by the CBI, the sessions court found him guilty of murdering Peter. The CBI made sure that they framed Costao in such a manner that it seemed that he had a very strong motive behind killing Peter. The CBI stated that Peter worked for Costao as an informant back in the day, and due to some conflicts that arose during that period, Costao wanted to take revenge on the man. Costao and his family got threats every day. His wife, Maria Fernandes, tried approaching Sameer Narang in the hope that he would help her cause and ensure the safety of her family, but it didn’t take long for her to understand that the man had already sold his conscience. Costao still worked in the customs department, but he was not allowed to be in the field. Costao hated sitting behind the desk all day, and so his superior, Naik, advised him to take a transfer and join the Bombay office. Costao knew that his passion had come at the cost of his family, but still he took the transfer for the next seven years, worked there, and waited for the decision of the court.
Was Costao able to prove his innocence?
Well yes, as we all know, Costao was able to prove his innocence in the court, and the supreme court acquitted him of all charges. But the point was that he had to pay a huge cost for his honesty, for his relentlessness, for his passion, and for his fearlessness. I mean, I don’t think that when Maria decided to part ways with Costao, as in not going with him to Bombay, she did anything wrong. Maria loved him; she defended him like a fearless tigress in front of the CBI officers, but with that said, she had not signed up for what was happening in her or her children’s lives. She was getting death threats; she felt unsafe for her kids; she was not able to live in peace, just because Costao was not ready to give up on his quest. She knew that probably Costao was the greatest man ever; he was a good father, a loving husband, and an honest officer, but she also knew that for him, his career and his morals were his priority. That said, it cannot be denied that Maria had to compromise on her happiness so that her husband could go and do whatever he felt was right. As it is said, the right path is often the hardest. There would have been moments where Costao would have questioned his own instincts, where he would have wanted to give up and lead a normal life. We saw how he stopped going to court after a point in time. It felt as if the man lost his faith in the system. The system, for which he had fought, for which he had risked his life, for which he had left his family, just didn’t seem to acknowledge his sacrifices. Deep down, Costao knew that his wife had every right to be mad at him, but his conscience and his sense of duty overpowered every other aspect of his life. Costao knew that it was important to put up a fight even if the result didn’t turn out in your favor.
Costao fought till the end and set an example for the generations to come. The apex authority observed that Costao’s fearlessness, his fight for justice, needed to be appreciated, as it was not every day a common man stood against a powerful minister, showed such courage and resilience, and emerged victorious.
