Uphill Battle:
Based on a true story, Costao evokes conflicting emotions. The fate of an honest government official who takes on a corrupt system acts as a cautionary tale. Still, the resilience and ultimate vindication of the man’s courageous stand leaves some hope about justice that is delayed but not denied.
In Sejal Shah’s film (on ZEE5), set in 1990s Goa, Costao Fernandes (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a much-decorated customs officer and athlete. His daughter’s voiceover says that he is like 24 carat gold, pure, but also useless without diluting. His wife, Maria (Priya Bapat), accuses him of putting duty over family, but he insists he gives both exactly equal importance. When a crisis strikes however, both are wrecked.
Costao gets a tip about a huge amount of gold being smuggled into Goa by gangster-politician D’Mello (Kishore Kumar G). His past experience tells him that D’Mello is always informed of raids by a mole in the department, so this time, with the approval of his boss, Naik (Rohit Tiwari), he embark on a secret, solo mission to nab the gold consignment and end D’Mello’s smuggling racket.
Things go awry and D’Mello’s brother Peter (Hussain Dalal) gets killed. Costao could have expected revenge from the gang, but the viciousness of the law enforcement system, of which he is a part, takes him by surprise. D’Mello has enough political clout to get a corrupt CBI officer, Narang (Gagandev Riar) to investigate the case. The Delhi’s man’s sole purpose is to humiliate Costao, discredit his statement, and, in one infuriating scene, harass his wife.
For protection from the D’Mello gang’s attacks, the family is forced to move to a supposedly secure location, the lives of Maria and their three children are disrupted. The murder case drags on, Costao takes a transfer to Mumbai to get away from the constant intimidation, but Maria refuses to go with him, so he is left fighting a long and tough battle with only his colleagues from the Customs standing by him.
Costao’s story is as dispiriting as it is inspiring, even if the treatment of the film is flat and hurried. And there is a scene like Peter’s widow and her cohorts in black veils attacking Costao outside the court, in front of his wife and kids, that goes against the sombre tone of the rest of the film. None of the actors sound Goan, but Siddiqui, who has a striking resemblance to the real Costao (seen at the end credits) holds the film together with his strong performance. Kishore Kumar G. is not a particularly menacing villain, but then actual baddies probably look ordinary.
In real life, a man in Costao’s position would have been crushed by the weight of an apathetic system, but the fact that he fought relentlessly and lost so much to reach the winning post is why a film is made about him. Since it is a fictional film and not a documentary, some dramatic spice would have made Costao much more watchable than it is already.
(This piece first appeared in seniorstoday.in)
