Mainstream Bollywood, which is largely synonymous with plain and sometimes mindless entertainment, is witnessing a big change. A spate of movies like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story, inspired by real-life incidents, has garnered public support and generated societal reactions. ‘Ajmer 92’ is one such impactful, and gripping film about a story that was left untold for decades.
The true story behind Ajmer 92
In 1992, the small town of Ajmer in Rajasthan woke up to a shameful, sordid scandal. The scandal involved hundreds of young girls, some college students while some others were still in school. The news of the scandal broke after a local paper, ‘Navjyoti’ published some nude images and a story that spoke about school students being blackmailed by local gangs.
It all started with Farooq Chishti grooming a female student of Sophia Senior Secondary School and raping her. He took objectionable photographs of the minor and threatened her to introduce other girls to him. Later, those girls were raped and blackmailed as well.
Farooq Chishti was the president of the Ajmer Youth Congress while two other accused, Nafis Chishti and Anwar Chishti were the vice-president and joint secretary respectively of the city Congress unit. In this case, some of the accused were the Chishti Khadims (caretakers) of the Ajmer Dargah.
Further investigations led to 18 men in total being charged in the case and tensions ran high in the town for several days. Most of the accused were Muslims, many from the families of Khadims, and most victims were young Hindu girls.
What followed next was another saga of political influence and administrative incompetence. There are speculations that the matter was suppressed to the point that many witnesses and victims turned hostile, and many details got buried. The witnesses and victims were threatened and blackmailed as well to stop them from coming forward. Some of them turned hostile due to social stigma.
Ajmer 92 film
The much-awaited movie Ajmer 92, based on this true story of serial gangrape and blackmail of at least 250 girls, hit the theatres on 21st July. The film is directed by Pushpendra Singh and produced by Reliance Entertainment in collaboration with U&K Films Entertainment, Sumit Motion Pictures, and Little Crew Pictures. It stars veteran actors Manoj Joshi, Shivaji Shinde, Brijendra Kala, Rajesh Sharma, Alka Amin, Zarina Wahab, and Shalini Kapoor. Karan Verma makes his debut as the lead in the movie and starring alongside him is Sumit Singh.
The powerful opening scene shows a fort in the backdrop of a few minarets of a mosque. Just as the camera captures a 180-degree bird’s eye view of Ajmer, home to the Dargah of Moinuddin Chishti, echoes of a girl’s horrific cry darken the city’s blue skies. The very first scene conveys the crux of the story. What follows is the story of the heinous crime of gang rape and blackmail, the rivalry between two local journalists, and the ever-impending quest to seek justice.
The movie has also briefly shed light on love jihad and how it is weaponised by Islamists to trap Hindu girls often to the extent of no return. It was refreshing to see an Indian movie openly talk about the issue of love jihad, albeit with censorship, and not give in to the fear of criticism from an appeasement-loving ecosystem. Plus points to Pushpendra Singh for daring to give this unspoken subject a platform. Another hard-to-ignore touch-up to the movie is the repeated namaskar (greeting by joining of hands) done by the antagonist Yaqub Ansari with the words (asalaam-walekum), safe to say, basically symbolizing the Congress party.
Exposing the jihadi mob mentality is a scene wherein a Muslim mob marches down the street in protest against the local newspaper, Navkiran (originally Dainik Navjyoti) for publishing about the scandal. A mobster holds the Editor-in-Chief by his collar and says to him, “Tum log humari kaum ko badnaam kyon karna chahte ho?” (why do you want to malign our (Muslim) community?), reflecting everything that is wrong with those who, instead of questioning criminal mentality, support it for the cause of “brotherhood” and shoot the messenger instead.
‘Ajmer 92’ very well shows what it means to be a girl and parents to a girl in a society which is reluctant to speak the truth and stand by the victims for the fear of offending a certain community and for the fear of communal riots. Manoj Joshi, playing a state politician in power, suggests ensuring that a Hindu is also named accused in the case so as to avoid giving the accused, Yaqub Ansari (role of the real Farooq Chishti played by Mahesh Balraj), the chance to turn this into a Hindu-Muslim case.
The moving helplessness of a father is seen when SP Ranjeet (played by Rajesh Sharma) is forced to remain silent fearing for the future of his daughter. In a subsequent scene, he decides to seek justice and is joined by his daughter in the quest for the same.
Another rather commendable and somewhat hidden message ‘Ajmer 92’ gives is how the Hindu community divided on caste lines, even with its strong foundational values, is still a weak one especially when living amongst criminal-minded radicals and fundamentalists. This message is reflected when Madhav conveys to his father (Brijendra Kala) his intent to marry Geeta, the daughter of a senior cop, and his reluctant father replies by saying, “Woh Rajput hain aur hum Yadav.” Even as the father agrees to the union, he refuses as a father of the boy to pay a visit to the girl’s family and demands that the latter visit them.
Out of all the aspects, the strongest was the movie’s portrayal of two different kinds of journalism. On one hand, there is Mohan Singh (role of Madan Singh played by Aakash Dahiya) who runs a local printing press and is known for publishing sensational news filled with “masala”. The real Madan Singh ran a local tabloid called ‘Lehron Ki Barkha’ (titled ‘Toofan’ in the movie). He had been blackmailing many girls demanding money, threatening to release their pictures. Most of the girls had given in, while one victim, Pushpa Dhanwani, had come forward and lodged an FIR against him.
Madan Singh was assassinated in 1992 in his hospital bed while recovering from an injury he sustained from a previous attack. His sons avenged his murder in January this year. The movie has got its facts spot on in regard to Madan Singh’s role in the case.
Director Pushpendra Singh has aptly pitted the role of Madhav; an honest scribe searching for the truth while respecting the sensitivities associated with the dignity of the rape victims; against that of Manoj, a journalist looking to profit from the pictures of the rape victims pushing them into an unending cycle of abuse and torture. The altercations between Madhav and Manoj raise important questions on the ethics of journalism and to what extent can and should one go to bring such a story to the people.
The last scene of Ajmer 92 is gut-wrenching. Yaqub Ansari receives a call from his brothers who are in hiding. Ansari, who was sentenced to life in a mental asylum, is shown sitting in a comfortable abode telling his brothers, “Don’t worry. Burn them all (witnesses).” This is even as the survivors are abandoned to their fate forever awaiting justice. The status quo continues to date.
