‘An Insignificant Man’, a most significant movie

I’ve often watched movies yearning to find some meaning, some purpose, a message somewhere within. Tonight, I found one, perhaps the best one ever.

‘An Insignificant Man’ is perhaps the most important thing you shall ever watch in a movie hall. And it says so much by not saying much. It chronicles the journey of Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav and their co-leaders, right from the Jan Lokpal Bill movement to the creation and eventual historic electoral performance of the Aam Aadmi Party, resulting into the formation of its first Government in Delhi in 2013.

It shows Kejriwal and Yadav make several speeches, public appearances, media interviews, internal decisions, future-shaping debates, fight sting operations and internal upheaval, deal with their idealism being challenged and brave anxiety, fear and an all-round sense of pessimism.

It shows Sheila Dikshit continually dismiss the AAP. It shows how support was gathered, it shows how all three major parties contested, the resources they spent, the arguments they made, the issues they based their campaigns on, the USPs they canvassed for. It makes you laugh, laugh at the country, its politics, the media, laugh at yourself!

The film also dwells upon the alleged killing of Kejriwal’s colleague from the days of his NGO Parivartan — Santosh Koli. I had invited Santosh to speak at one of the community events we had organized for our NGO back in 2009. She was a fearless yet endearing activist. And I felt ashamed that I found out about her death only through this movie.

Hardly ever entering their homes, this film follows Kejriwal and Yadav through the tiny by-lanes and public squares of Delhi, giving you an insight into their psyche, into the being within them. Yet it never fights to portray them as perfect, it points out their flaws, it shows them having to answer questions on whether their ideals have been compromised, it also shows them actually compromising, it shows how eventually both of them fought and parted ways!

But it builds to an unbelievable climax where an insignificant man, a thought, a dream and tremendous fearlessness, strategy and commitment achieved the impossible by winning a Herculean battle and demolishing a Chief Minister who had been in power for 15 years. It gives you hope amidst the reality of our times! It makes that anthem at the beginning appear perhaps relevant for the first time. It makes you question your belief in ‘Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta’.

Some scenes deserve special mention and stay with you long after you come out. The scene where Kejriwal and Kumar Vishwas can’t stop laughing while making their Ad jingle, the scene where the TV panelists from the BJP and Congress change colours as soon as the camera goes off, the scenes where you wonder if Yadav’s expression lets out some admission of guilt when the party if accused of wrongdoing, the scene where Yadav watches Kejriwal’s first swearing in ceremony drowned amidst a sea of people!

You will often forget that you aren’t watching fiction, you will forget that this is ‘not a feature film’ but in fact a ‘documentary’. Words cannot do enough justice to commend makers Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla and Producer Anand Gandhi (also the Director of ‘Ship of Theseus’), along with the many DU students they trained, for the 400 hours of footage they shot over many months, to come up with 90 minutes of an extremely rare, extremely important, extremely riveting account of history!

I have always believed that each one of us is capable of achieving great things, if we have a vision and we lose our fear and lethargy. Hopefully this film shall push many to do so, I know it did for me.