In Kai Po Che, the violence against the Muslims is pitched as a spontaneous flare-up because allegedly the Muslims of Godhra torched the Sabarmati Express in which many innocent people died, including Omi's parents. The film depicts Omi's rage against the Muslims, his absolute belief that it was the Muslims who killed his parents, and hence the justification for attacking the Muslims in Ahmedabad. The film condemns Omi's violence. Indeed it asks Omi to be a better person. But the easy cause- effect relation between Godhra and the Gujarat pogrom and the simplistic relationship between action and reaction that the film perpetuates is unacceptable to me. No right thinking person—the filmmakers, critics, audience (and I presume most of the audience of this film is right-thinking) will say that violence is a good thing, but in the film, the characters are seemingly forgiving of flare-ups, spontaneous outbursts of youth, and "mistakes" that take on the shape of mass killings, rapes, loot and destruction of property.
The film successfully orchestrates empathy with the three friends: All emotion is attributed to Ishaan, Govind and Omi. Does the film generate empathy with the real 'victims' of the Gujarat genocide? Or even a fictional Ali? Can we think about the 'victims'— the anonymous Muslims who served as props for the drama in Kai Po Che to be played out— and can we think about Ali, the good Muslim, the foot soldier of Indian secularism and democracy scoring winning runs under the able coaching and guidance of a good Hindu? And what happened to Ali's family?
We forget the brutality of this pre-planned violence; we even forget that it was pre-planned. The voter lists, school and college admission registers, municipality records of property ownership, the large cache of arms available to the mobs—no allusion to any of this in this film. The violence on the Muslims is not abhorrent any more. Ishaan's death is. The film has a very clear message: It has been 10 years… time to forgive, forget and move on. In fact, Narendra Modi himself has recently said that his "idea of secularism is "India First" and people will forgive "mistakes" of a government if it serves them well." Yes, many people have short memories; many have forgiven Maken, Tytler and Co for 1984, is it now time for Gujarat?
I do understand that on board are important issues of forgiveness and reconciliation vis-à-vis the Gujarat violence. But whose forgiveness is being asked for? The film ends with a reconciliation among the Hindus. Vidya, Ishaan's ‘progressive’ sister married to the apolitical and successful businessman (Govind), forgives Omi (for his mistake in killing Ishaan). Ali hits a six in the last couple of minutes of the film. His father and mother can nowhere to be seen in the stadium—are they back in Juhapura or in a camp?
Whether the problem of Kai Po Che be attributed to political naivety of the creators of the film or to very suave management of the cinematic form, the problem remains. The history writing of Kai Po Che is unacceptable. Its secular pretensions are not without doubt. Redemption has to come with justice. To be appeased with a heart-moving tale of guilt and redemption without looking at the big picture is foolhardy to say the least.