There is not a lot that happens in Stolen, at least with respect to the number of events. But the impactful story, the possibility of something like that happening in real life, the harsh reality of the world, the desperation, the poverty, and the helplessness make Stolen a harrowing watch. The film reminded me of Navdeep Singh’s NH10, probably because of the kind of locations both the films were shot at, and also because of the character arcs of the protagonists, who, from feeling extremely petrified, reached a stage where they just became numb to everything. Stolen, through its crisp screenplay, is able to show you the real India. It addresses issues that are often part of our dinner table conversations, though there is a lack of empathy when the privileged class talks about it, because they don’t know what it feels like when you become a victim of institutionalized corruption and when nobody pays heed to your cries due to the lack of resources. So when Gautam Bansal found himself in such a situation, he just wanted to pay his way out and not get involved in it. But his brother had other plans, and he didn’t let him take the easy way out. Let’s find out what happened in the film and what Gautam, and his younger brother had to face in order to save an innocent woman.
Spoiler Alert
How did Gautam and Raman get involved in the case?
Jhumpa, a laborer who had escaped the clutches of her oppressive employer, was sleeping in the train station with her 5-month-old daughter, Champa, when a woman came and took her baby. Jhumpa woke up in a state of shock, and she started searching for her little girl like a madwoman. Jhumpa saw that a man standing on the platform had the woolen cap of her daughter. She presumed that he was the one who had stolen her baby, and so she went up to him and started fighting with him. More people joined her, and they would have definitely thrashed the anonymous man if his elder brother, Gautam Bansal, hadn’t arrived at the scene. Gautam told the crowd that Raman was his brother and that there must have been some misunderstanding since he hadn’t stolen anybody’s baby and that he had come to attend their mother’s wedding. The cops for a moment forgot about the case as they were thrown off, hearing that it was their mother’s wedding. They were two grown men, and so it was a bit surprising to make sense of that information.
Raman had lost someone very close to his heart, and he knew how it felt when a person whom you love so much was taken away from you. Raman wanted to help Jhumpa out, but Gautam, on the other hand, just wanted to pay the cops and leave as soon as they could. Gautam couldn’t understand why Raman all of a sudden wanted to become a good Samaritan when it was none of their concern. Also, Gautam was well aware of how somebody could get stuck in such cases even if it wasn’t their fault. The police also had similar sentiments to that of Gautam; they too didn’t want to get stuck with all the paperwork and increase their workload for no rhyme or reason. Raman sensed that they were not taking Jhumpa’s case seriously, and so he passed a comment or two at them, which made them very angry. One of the cops told Raman to accompany them and help them search for the criminal, since he was the prime witness in the case. Jhumpa had her doubts about the tea stall vendor since the very beginning, and when she overheard him talking to somebody over a call, she realized that he was also a part of the conspiracy. The police interrogated him, and he spilled that there was an organized syndicate that stole newborn babies. The vendor was told that he would get 5000 rupees for every baby he helped them steal. He told the police that the woman named Surili, who had stolen the baby, could be found at an abandoned mansion referred to as the cursed mansion by the locals, which was located at the outskirts of the town. Now, Gautam didn’t want to go there, but Raman left him with no option. An infuriated Gautam sat in his car and started following the police officers.
Had Jhumpa stolen the baby from her employer?
Gautam, Raman, Jhumpa, and the two cops reached the cursed mansion, where they almost caught Surili. She had been staying there, and the cops realized that even the baby had been kept there for some time. Surili ran to save her life, and Gautam, in the spur of the moment, threw a wooden plank at her, because of which she fell into a ditch. Gautam and the others came running behind her only to find out that the woman had died due to the fall. Gautam might have been the most insensitive guy up until then, but he hadn’t killed anybody in his life. He was in a state of shock, and Raman kept telling his elder brother that it was not his fault. Meanwhile, the cops got to know that Jhumpa’s employer had been searching for her since she had run away with her baby. They believed that Jhumpa was the baby stealer and not the other way round. Obviously, she was a poor woman, and it was convenient to override her narrative. Before the cops could catch hold of Jhumpa, she too ran away from the scene, leaving the boys alone with the cops.
The cops got an opportunity to threaten the boys and extort money from them. Raman gave them cash and Gautam’s expensive watch. The cop, Panditji, promised them that he would deal with the matter internally and make sure that the case got shut. Gautam breathed a sigh of relief, but his peace was short-lived; he realized that Raman had helped Jhumpa hide in his car trunk. Gautam was livid, as he couldn’t imagine how his brother could be so dumb. There came a time when even Raman started to doubt Jhumpa’s intentions and felt that she was lying about everything. But Jhumpa was not lying. She showed Gautam the C-section scar on her abdomen and told him that it was her baby. Actually, Jhumpa had agreed to become a surrogate mother for her employer, Daya. It was an illegal surrogacy, and so Jhumpa couldn’t really take the matter to the court of law. As fate would have it, Jhumpa gave birth to twins, and since the deal was for giving her employer one baby, she took the other one with her. Now her employer wanted both the babies, and Jhumpa was adamant about not parting ways with her daughter.
Was Jhumpa able to find her daughter?
Another problem was that Gautam and Raman’s video clip had spread on social media, where they were seen having a scuffle with cops. A rumor spread that they were the ones who were stealing kids from the railway station. Jhumpa and Raman had found the identity card of a man named Acchelal at the same cursed mansion where they had found Surili. They believed him to be the ringleader of the syndicate. That identity card was issued by a rehab center, and the trio believed that Acchelal worked there. But before Gautam, Jhumpa, and Raman could reach that rehab center, they were caught by the locals, who were hounding them under the belief that they were baby thieves. The ensuing chase sequence was one of the most harrowing ones that I have seen in recent times. The mob shot at Gautam’s car and then finally they had to abandon their vehicle and go hide in a ramshackle building in the interior of the village. Raman got gravely injured, and Gautam was scared that his brother might end up losing his life before he could take him to a hospital. Gautam, at the end of Stolen, decided to go and get some water for Raman and ask for help. But the angry mob got hold of him, and without even listening to what he had to say, almost beat him to death. Had Panditji, the police officer, not arrived just at the right time, the mob would have definitely killed Gautam. That thrashing, that feeling of his voice not being heard, and that anger and helplessness at not being treated in a justified manner changed something inside Gautam. Probably he realized what Jhumpa might have felt her entire life. Gautam and Raman were sent to the nearby hospital, where Jhumpa was taken away by Panditji. Gautam was in the ambulance when he realized that the man driving it was Acchelal. Gautam reached the hospital, and he tried to find the head doctor. It came to be known that the entire hospital was involved in the child theft. They took huge sums from families who couldn’t have children, or who wanted kids for some other purposes. And then they stole kids and provided them to the family who had paid the money. Gautam was gravely injured, but he fought for Jhumpa, and he made sure that Acchelal couldn’t leave until the cops arrived at the scene.
I believe that the entire incident changed Gautam’s perspective towards life. He saw the plight of a mother who just wanted to keep her kid, and found herself at odds with the police. He didn’t understand the kind of world he was living in. There was a time when Raman told him to not think from his pockets, implying that not everything in life could be bought with money. At the end, a battered Gautam sat next to his brother, who was lying on the hospital bed. Raman had still not come back to his senses, and Gautam probably didn’t know if he would ever get to talk to him. Gautam knew that that day he had fought for the right thing, and had Raman seen him doing that, he would have been extremely proud of his brother.
