The title of the film, “Jana Gana Mana,” is a direct appeal to the nation’s unity. Titled as India’s national anthem, one can anticipate it to be about politics, freedom of expression and the fate of the oppressed. In this film, we see a courtroom drama in which a police officer’s morals and conduct are called into question to bring another tale to light, which leads to an unexpected finale and a hero emerging from the shadows.
“Jana Gana Mana,” narrated by Mammootty, depicts a police officer misusing his authority to assist a sitting State Home Minister in turning a terrible murder into a headline that may help him win a better position in the elections as a new Chief Minister. With the express purpose of forming a powerful association, a personal occurrence begins to plague him, forcing him to adjust his course and question his morale. When he makes this choice, a certain truth emerges that will alter his destiny, which he readily accepts. Let’s take a look at the journeys of two police officers on their way to salvation.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is The Objective Of The Students Of Central University To Protest Against The Police?
Gauri is a student of Central University of Karnataka with a passion for civic engagement and is a beloved student of Professor Sabah Mariam. Gauri believes firmly that she must stand up for her Professor in a time of need when Professor Sabah is found dead after assumingly being raped. Her Professor ingrained in her the principles of revolution and why history teaches us more about ourselves via each person’s narrative. Her body was then burned so that no physical proof of torture remained. When Gauri and her fellow students protest the tyranny of the college administrators, who refuse to properly commemorate a renowned professor’s death, they are confronted with lathi-charge and savage beatings by the police.
The students, who are grieving, remain enraged and protest with all their strength. ACP Sajjan Kumar meets them face-to-face and tells them that it is not his right to tell them what to do or whether or not to protest. Though it could be in both their interests to deliver the justice needed to restore the uniform’s pride and title in the eyes of society while also determining who is to blame. When Gauri meets with ACP Sajjan Kumar, she stresses that the police had no intention of assaulting the students with antiquated weapons and equipment. It almost seems like the cops weren’t supposed to be there in the first place, and they’re probably right.
When the police make an arrest, the information is leaked to the media, and ACP Sajjan Kumar, the case’s inspector-in-charge, summons his officers to scold them for the leak. Students learn of this and begin protesting outside the station, demanding that the evidence be produced. With a body missing, the students want to know what happened to her before making any arrests. ACP Sajjan Kumar now faces a fresh challenge with this in mind. How will he persuade these kids to continue to support his methods? What will he do next that will alter the course of events?
Are ACP Sajjan Kumar’s Intentions True To His Mission?
ACP Sajjan Kumar is a single father who is estranged from his wife and is responsible for his son. Despite his world turning upside down, his conscious effort toward his son is a deliberate balance that he maintains. He interrogates the accused in light of the recent arrests. He realizes, after questioning them, that he has nothing to go on. He granted the Professor’s mother and sister a deadline of 30 days to locate the culprits. He’s starting to worry that he won’t be able to cope with the visions of a suffering mother in his head and in his conscience.
He needs to find a method to sway the students in his favor. IPS Officer Hareendra Sharma, the current Deputy Inspector General, speaks with Kumar and informs him that a dangerous operation like this that was carried out without informing him personally poses a true security risk to Kumar and his family. Things take a turn for the worse as a result of the top-down pressure. The four defendants must be transferred to a different jail, and the case will be assigned to a different police officer.
Sajjan’s head begins to spin with questions. He obeys the order and remembers to cover all his bases. He still thinks he may have the upper hand if he simply calls the Home Minister. The Home Minister tells him to finish the job, and Sajjan’s eyes light up. With this unexpected order from a person at the top, what will he do next? Will justice be served? What will Sajjan do to redeem the nation’s faith in the police force?
Sajjan comes to accept the notion that everything is proceeding as planned. From here, nothing will or can go wrong. Two automobiles are on their way to transfer the four accused, but they gradually separate. Sajjan’s vehicle that has the accused men has its driver turn off the beacon and turn left off the highway to approach a cliff at the end of the road, as instructed by Sajjan.
One of the accused, who merely wanted a smoke, eventually receives one, but he immediately notices something is amiss. With perfect conviction, Sajjan shoots all four accused and a fellow officer in the shoulder. When he receives word that his son has been in an accident while responding to the nation’s celebrations over this horrific slaying, his world turns upside down.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ Ending Explained: Who is Aravind Swaminathan? How Does ACP Sajjan Kumar Redeem Himself?
As Sajjan’s environment darkens, he begins to wonder if all of his actions are consistent with his values and the uniform he wears. He is haunted by words and faces. Remember how we said he covered all of his bases? With a Home Minister who has no friendly relationships and a fetish for betraying those closest to him, he ensures that he is in control of any unpleasant circumstance, ally or not. With this repulsive trait, the demise of his political image is on the horizon as Advocate Aravind Swaminathan arrives to represent the four accused who were murdered and never brought to trial.
Aravind Swaminathan, an attorney, has a dark history of suffering and torture to prepare him for a fight in the courtroom, where he will use methods that appear excessive and disparaging. While his argument revolves around shocking incidents of violence across India, he gradually reveals the scheme’s mastermind. When Sajjan’s son was in the hospital, he would have nightmares. The only way to end the nightmares was to follow the advice given to him by the victim’s mother. “You harvest what you sow,” she says. What is Sajjan’s plan to get out of the complicated plot he devised?
Sajjan starts looking for luck on the tails of the coin and launches an investigation to gather all of the evidence surrounding Sabah’s death. The “Mens rea” of the four men charged would be annulled and void if Aravind could present the true evidence of Sabah’s hit-and-run murder in court. These four men were assassinated for a crime they may not have committed provided there was evidence in the court of law that would prove them guilty otherwise.
Aravind meticulously pieced together the evidence of how the four individuals accused of being responsible and acting on orders disposed of the body of Professor Sabah because she stood up for a student who had been belittled by a certain professor at the university. Vidya, a doctorate student with no more time on her hands and crores of rupees to pay for certain fellowships, was frantic for direction and approval for her final year work. Vidya’s professor-in-charge humiliates her, so she creates a suicide note on her phone, claiming that her birth was a mistake, which hits a chord in Sabah. Vidya’s professor-in-charge approaches Sabah carefully, informing her with a sneaky smile that she will be well compensated for her silence. She yells at him, enraged. Unfortunately, her life comes to an abrupt end when the same Professor discovers her waiting on the side of the road where her scooter has broken down and runs her over, killing her.
Just as the students showed their support for their savior when they learned that Sajjan’s son was in the hospital, Sajjan’s true intentions are revealed in court when Aravind mentions that he was the reason Sabah’s body was kept frozen in the mortuary. Later, he would order the students to be beaten up so that he could enter the battlefield like a hero to save th students from a bad day. With everything out in the open, Sajjan is declared to be the genuine criminal mastermind, and he is dismissed from his duties with immediate effect, owing to Aravind’s defense.
When Sajjan is in jail, he expresses gratitude to his subordinate for the lawyer he hired to fight the case. His subordinate then informs him that Aravind Swaminathan was more than he appeared. He was arguably the strongest man alive after being betrayed by the uniform after a long and illustrious career as an IPS officer who was the primary investigator in a case involving riots in the same city in 2013, with sitting minister Nageshwar Rao as the prime suspect.
When he lost the love of his life in a murder that still enrages him, he was inspired to seek vengeance when this case came across his desk. He was a gold medalist in law from Delhi University and a civil service officer who, in this instance, enforced the law for the last time and won.
At the end of “Jana Gana Mana,” Aravind finally calls the current Home Minister’s number and informs him that the real war has begun, and nobody can rescue him this time. Aravind promises to take revenge on him by hook or by crook without any involvement of the judicial system that is corrupted to the core. He swears to become the judge and the jury in his path to vengeance and will not stop until he ends the war started by the minister for his political greed. The entire declaration of war is a direct suggestion of a sequel film, i.e., “Jana Gana Mana 2,” in which an ultimate clash between Nageshwar Rao and Aravind Swaminathan is bound to happen. One can only speculate on what the sequel could reveal. Will we finally see an IPS officer address the disparities that the majority of the lower caste and underprivileged face? Will we eventually get to witness him avenge his one true love? Will the CM be hauled in front of a judge to answer for his crimes? We’re looking forward to seeing what Dijo Anthony has in store for us.
Final Words
“Jana Gana Mana” strikes specific political chords in the viewer’s mind, trying solely to express outrage at a genuine sense of sexism, political distrust, and its destructive character, with an ounce of abuse that exists even in educational institutions. When morality has nowhere to go, violence rapidly takes its place, destroying what is good. Everyone’s worst comes out in this situation. One might wonder where we find that balance.
Director Dijo Jose Anthony and writer Sharis Mohammad have created a stirring film on what we stand for as a country and how civic sense is not oblivious to government activities. We have a voice that can create thunder and lightning when necessary while we sit motionlessly and remain assumingly silent. When a storm brews, the sound generated is a force of nature, and if justice must be delivered, we can trust an IPS officer to bring the scales to balance the decision. May the troops in khaki do their best to help civilian society, and we, the civilians, shall strive to preserve the faith.
“Jana Gana Mana” is a 2022 Drama Film starring Prithviraj Sukumaran.
