It’s the subject of the most heated discussions every five years. But the process of democracy perhaps hasn’t got its due in Hindi cinema. Amit Masurkar’s upcoming film Newton could well change that. “Eighty per cent of the film is set inside a polling booth and encompasses the day of the election. We all flood social media on that one day with photos of our inked fingers, and feel our job is done. But there is much more to democracy and elections. We take it for granted,” says Masurkar. “That’s why I set the film in a place where this was not easily achievable — Chhattisgarh,” he adds. Described as a dark comedy, Newton has Rajkummar Rao in the titular role, a quirky polling booth clerk who takes it upon himself to ensure free-and-fair elections in a conflict-hit Naxal pocket. Pankaj Tripathi, Sanjay Mishra, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil are also part of the cast. Elections may form the backdrop of Newton but Masurkar, who has co-written and directed the film, which releases on September 22, is clear he didn’t want to make a political film. “We have had sagas, dynasty politics and conspiracy-laden films, heavy on drama. I wanted something simple. I had pitched the film to mainstream studios, but the moment they heard politics, they rejected it. They wanted something entertaining. They didn’t realise that Newton is entertaining,” he says. The film is being produced by Drishyam Films, which has earlier produced films such as Masaan and Ankhon Dekhi. “I had started writing Newton when I was editing my earlier film, Sulemani Keeda – a tale of two struggling writers in Mumbai. That was a world I knew. Mayank Tiwari, who acted in Sulemani Keeda, came on board for Newton as a co-writer. I read several books on the topic at hand, met experts, and also met several Naxals who had surrendered. The final draft of the script was very different from the first one,” says Masurkar. Born and raised in Mumbai’s Mahim, films happened quite late to Masurkar. He was midway in his degree in Industrial Production when the film bug bit him. But everything happened very slowly, he says. “I went to Manipal University to study engineering and after the first year, happened to be interning with a magazine during my vacation. I was sent to write about MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival) and that’s when I thought I could do this, this was more exciting than engineering. I met a lot of filmmakers and started off as an assistant director,” says the 36-year-old. What followed were writing assignments with The Great Indian Comedy Show, where Masurkar’s sense of humour and grasp of pop culture made a mark. That same humour is visible in the trailer of Newton where Rao and Tripathi are engaged in a banter as they wander through the jungles of Chhattisgarh. The trailer has created quite a buzz, garnering four million views on the first day when it was released on August 30. “I am happy that we got the casting right; it gets easier. I am lucky that I was able to get all these seasoned actors together and work with them. Apart from them, we have used about 100 locals in the film,” says Masurkar. Set in the jungles of Dalli Rajhara, most of Newton was shot in real time, which, Masurkar admits, was quite a challenge. “We were two hours away from the town, with no network or electricity. There was a generator but that would create a loud noise, which interfered with the sync sound. So we shot in real time — if there was a scene set at 8 am, we would shoot at 8 am. If we missed the light, we started afresh the next day. And, of course, there was rain and many curious locals; it’s not everyday that they see a shooting crew in their beautiful forest,” adds Masurkar. The film has already won the CICAE Award at the Berlin Film Festival; the jury award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and has been officially selected for the Tribeca Film Festival. If it succeeds at the box office — which Masurkar hopes it does — it will demonstrate that it is possible to blend entertaining and meaningful cinema. “I hope it encourages other filmmakers and writers to take the plunge. I think people are looking forward to the film,” he says. “Aanand L Rai, who is distributing the film along with Eros, has got calls from exhibitors from far-flung areas. These are exciting times,” adds Masurkar.
