Massey Sahib

1986 124’ col Hindi d/sc/co-dial Pradip Krishen p Ravi Malik pc NFDC co-dial Raghuvir Yadav c R.K. Bose m Vanraj Bhatia lp Raghuvir Yadav, Barry John, Arundhati Roy, Jacqueline Garewal, Sudhir Kulkarni, Virendra Saxena, Madan Lal, Francis King, Lalloo Ram, Hemant Mishra, Vasant Joglekar, James Ure, David Maurice

Satirical comment on colonial India set in 1929 and featuring a government clerk named Francis Massey (Yadav). Because of his constant interactions with the British, Massey fancies himself to be just like an Englishman. However, he has to deploy extreme financial ingenuity to keep the wolf from the door. When Massey’s boss Charles Adam (Barry John) lacks the funds to complete his dream project of building a road through the forest, Massey manages to get the scheme finished through financial skullduggery, persuasion and threats. To his surprise, an unofficial road tax he levies is considered to be corruption by the very boss who had condoned Massey’s earlier shenanigans. Frustrated and humiliated, Massey attacks and kills his old friend Banaji when the latter refuses to help. Massey is arrested for murder and Adam advises him to plead guilty to accidental manslaughter, but Massey refuses, assuming that his colonial associations will get him off the hook. Krishen’s feature debut reveals many technical inadequacies, but Yadav’s fine performance inaugurated a screen image he has maintained ever since.

Film