All Fall Down:
The movie industry is notorious for exploiting the vulnerable, and complaints have been usually buried, till the #MeToo movement blew the lid on the best-kept secret of Hollywood, and also the Indian industry.
Child abuse, however, is a touchy subject, in spite of the Michael Jackson scandal. A documentary Leaving Neverland (2019) tackled it, and around the same time, a British series Dark Money (directed by Lewis Arnold) came out, which is the source for the Sahil Sangha-directed Kafas (On SonyLiv) The original was flimsy enough, and the Hindi remake adds no great layers to it. Sangha and the writer (Karan Sharma) have Indianised it in minor ways, and for many viewers there would be some shock value, not because they do not know of rampant sexual abuse in the industry, but because the victim in this case is a 15-year-old boy and the abuser a major movie star. As a character ponderously advises a teenage girl in the show that she must not become an actress, because it not a nice place for women. It has not occured to him that boys can be abused too, “Whoever heard of a man being raped?” he says, in all ignorance or innocence, unaware that a victim is right in the house.
When Shaurya, nicknamed Sunny (Mikail Gandhi) returns from Sri Lanka after shooting a film titled Superdad, with star Vikram Bajaj (Vivan Bhathena) his family and neighbours are excited, but the boy is listless. He reveals to his parents Raghav Vashisht (Sharman Joshi) and Seema (Mona Singh) that he was molested by Bajaj and a part of one attack was captured on his phone.
Raghav is furious first with his mother-in-law (Zarina Wahab) who had gone to chaperone Sunny, and then with his wife, who aspired to be an actress herself and hopes to fulfill her dreams through Sunny and daughter Shreya (Tejasvi Ahlawat). The young woman spends her free time auditioning for screen work, but faces no harassment, making the Sunny episode look like a one-off incident, thus ignoring the magnitude of the problem.
Sangha takes up a sensitive subject, but does not want to deal with the ugliness, so reduces considerably the extent of the crime–suffice it to say, to avoid a spoiler, is that what occured was awful enough for a child, but not rape. Sunny does not want the incident revealed to anyone, but the outraged parents approach a lawyer, who tells them they don’t really have a case, not to mention the trauma Sunny would have to suffer if the case actually went to court.
In spite of the inadequate evidence, Vikram’s legal team offers the parents a large sum of money for deleting the video and signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Cinema manager Raghav and salon attendant Seema, who are in financial dire straits and unable to make rent, accept. Their lives change– they are able to move to a large apartment, buy a fancy car, Seema gets a her own salon, Sunny is admitted to an elite school, but money can’t erase their shame and guilt, nor wipe out Sunny’s agony.
Instead of staying with the family’s emotional crumbling, Kafas, scatters all over the place– the problems with Raghav’s ex-wife (Mona Wasu) and their aggressive son (Araham Sawant), Shreya’s boy friend (Ishank Saluja) hassles, Sunny’s friendship with Vikram’s son Agastya (Ethan) and his Bois-like rich gang, who goad him to harass a girl just to prove he is not gay.
Keeping in mind what happens in reality, the mandatory happy ending seems like a cop out. The one who comes across as truly despicable is not Bajaj or the Vashishts, the shark-like lawyers, or even the unscrupulous journalist who causes near tragedy, but Bajaj’s wife (Preeti Jhangiani), who knows of her husband’s predilections, but loves the fancy lifestyle more.
Mona Singh as the miserable mother stands way above the others in the cast. The weak link in the show is Sunny, who wears a single expression throughout– he should have shown some spark of the talent that got him picked for the film in the first place. Kafas is unable to move the viewer as it should have, because most of the characters are unsympathetic and the issue is not handled with any depth. The wrestlers’ protest against sexual harassment playing out on the news everyday has more power.
(An edited version of this piece first appeared in scroll.in)
