“Aks”: The Eternal Fight between Good and Evil

The dichotomy of good and evil is one of the most important dichotomies in the textual investigations. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is one of the directors who have tried to explore it in his films. The film ‘Aks’ was released in 2001 and was a directorial debut of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The film has a very powerful cast of wonderful actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon, Nandita Das, K.K. Raina and Amol Palekar. Film did not run well on the box-office but was acclaimed by the critics. Amitabh Bachchan wins Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.

The film begins as a political thriller, and in the very beginning the Foreign Minister of India is assassinated in Budapest and there is a threat to the Prime Minister as well. The very first dialogue of the movie says, “jo honaa hai, so to hotaa hi hai” which echoes Bhagwad Geeta’s statement “jab-jab jo- jo honaa hai, tab-tab so- so hotaa hai” meaning whatever is going to happen is bound to happen. But, just after few minutes, the killer speaks another line from The Bhagwad Geeta, “na koi martaa hai, na koi maarta hai. mai to sirf nimitt maatr hu.” It says that nobody kills and nobody gets killed, I am nothing but the medium and he adds that in this puppet-game, I, Raghavan, am a hunter and you, Manu Varma, are a prey.

The movie begins with this dichotomy of hunter and prey; the hunter being evil and the prey is good. This dichotomy is clearly portrayed visually as well. Raghavan is always in black or dark clothes. His body language is also unusual. He enjoys killing his prey and like an artist leaves his signature in the form of a small mask. He also uses masks of various people and personifies them in killing. On the other hand, Manu Verma is seen in various color combinations of dark and light. It signifies the basic proposal of the movie that good and evil reside in the same being. Few scenes are kept just to develop the character of Raghavan and his insanity on screen so that audience can know how evil he can be.

Raghavan was finally captured in a forest where he way hunting a wolf. Here again the hunter, wolf, becomes a prey, which symbolic of hunter, Raghvan, getting captured. The meeting between Raghavan and Manu in the prison is the turning point and key scene in the main theme of good and evil. Raghavan clearly talks about the dichotomy of good and bad person. He says that he is in prison because the society doesn’t want to see its own evil face. He says that he completes the good face by creating its opposition.  Raghavan emphasizes the fact that it is just because of the fear of law and order that people are good, otherwise every ‘Manu Verma’ has a ‘Raghavan’ in him. If you remove the rules, you will see the real face of society. At this time, Manu tells him that Raghavan will be hanged till death and everything will be over. Raghavan replies that ‘something’ will never end, where he clearly implies that the evil instinct will never end because it is not just a characteristic of Raghavan. In the court, Raghavan invokes another dichotomy of city and forest in which the city is central and considered civilized and good while forest signifies everything that is dark and evil. Thus, Raghavan questions the very nature of society and civilization.

Just after the court hearing, there is a song on Ram-leela, which has a crux that Raavan will be there till Raam is there, they are two sides of a coin. The existence of good is not possible without the existence of evil. In an attempt to escape from the prison on gun-point, Raghavan was shot dead by Manu. Raghavan dies smiling on his face and then something happens that leaves Manu unconscious. In the hospital, Manu explains to his wife that this is a fight in which good has to fight the evil, the masks and bodies may change but the fight continues.

In the next scene, audience comes to know that Manu is possessed by Raghavan, proving Raghavan’s words that something may not die. And he starts killing the enemies of Raghavan. Possessed Manu meets Raghavan’s lover Neeta and tells her that this is his opportunity to avenge Manu from his own body. Now, it has become a fight between good and evil within the same body, whichever energy is better fed will win. He meets Raghavan’s brother, Mahadev, too. Mahadev is mentally challenged but an excellent mask maker. Manu tells him that he left the body of Raghavan as it was old. He has plenty of masks made by Mahadev. Mahadev is also the name of Lord Shiva and this statement clearly indicates the Hindu philosophy of life and death circle.

When Manu is taken to Guruji, he reiterates the same words. He claims that evil is a need of good; they complement each other. Raghavan says that good and evil are each other’s reflections and shadows, they cannot be separated. Even at the end of the movie, when Mahadev, possessed by Raghavan was killed, the evil spirit of the Raghavan was reflected laughing in the mirror proving the fact that ‘something’ cannot be killed. If we see the Biblical story, even here the Satan is immortal till the doom’s day. It cannot be killed.

The film is noteworthy for its performances and wonderful music by Ranjit Barot and Anu Malik. Ranjit Barot wins the Filmfare award for the best background score. The songs, very pertinent to the dark theme of the movie, are penned by Gulzar. The film presents the notion of Good and Evil in a new light. It clearly says that Good and Evil lies in the same body and it needs to be conquered by the individual. They define each other as dark defines the light. When there is light, we think that darkness is inexistent but it is still there, waiting for the light to get weaker. Same is the case with Good and Evil, evil energy is always there, we need to surpass it by our goodness both within and outside the one’s body. The script of the movie was entitled “The Good versus the Evil,” and the title of the movie ‘Aks’ meaning “reflection”, questions the dichotomy itself. It makes the clear statement that the Good and the Evil are nothing but the reflections of one another, without the body the reflection of the other. And this tool has been used quite extensively in the movie too, presenting Raghavan as the reflection of Manu.