5 iconic films where a stupid, common man became the architect of his own justice!

The middle class is the most fascinating species of humanity. We grind through the weekdays wearing invisible blinkers, come alive on weekends to see a world beyond our cubicles or screens, and save meticulously for what others might call small dreams - a family trip to the hills, a smarter gadget, or a visit to a fancy restaurant we’ve been eyeing for months! We’re largely unbothered by the chaos around us because the system often turns a deaf ear to our problems. However, history stands testimony that we have also been flagbearers of change if our ability to tolerate and adjust is put to the test time and again.

Art imitates life, and life imitates art. For decades, the common man of Indian cinema was a figure of quiet suffering. We saw honest clerks, virtuous teachers, poets, artists, or hardworking farmers get exploited by the system but refused (or were too scared) to take the illicit way. However, as the gap between the aspirations of the middle class and the reality of a crumbling system widened, a new cinematic sub-genre came into prominence.The modern crime-thrillers moved away from over-the-top addas of the villains and shifted to the modest mohallas of tax-paying citizens in films where the protagonists weren’t born criminals but moulded into one by a situation where their rage became the only logical survival mechanism.  

Also Read: Vadh 2 review: A truly ‘arresting’ tale of justice that delivers unflinching social commentary and heart-winning catharsis!

The middle-class crime thriller largely explores the suffocation that stems from helplessness. The aggression here isn’t loud, but calculated with streaks of nervousness and a realization that it's the only way out. Unlike the stylish villains of yesteryear, protagonists here have everything to lose-right from their livelihood, family’s reputation, or even the humble roof over their heads, but are left with no choice but to take matters into their own hands. One of the milestone films in this genre is Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday. Nasseruddin Shah’s character, known simply as ‘The Common Man’, represented all of us who felt vulnerable after a news report on terrorism, but were too powerless to bring change. He holds Mumbai’s police force hostage via a cell phone and a laptop from a rooftop to bring justice to the terrorists responsible for various blasts in the country. The film resonated well with the audience as the protagonist was a vigilante born from the exhaustion of being a soft target, who only wanted the system to do its job for once!

Similarly, Krish Jagarlamudi’s Gabbar is Back saw Aditya (Akshay Kumar) take a more aggressive and stylish approach to channel this angst against the institutionalized corruption, particularly in health-care and government administration, after it wrongs him following the death of his pregnant wife (Kareena Kapoor Khan). Turning the commonly experienced frustration of paying bribes to get our jobs done at almost every sarkari department into a stylish tale of revenge, the film featured the protagonist operating under the name of the legendary villain to do the work of a hero in a high-octane battle for dignity and a common man’s rights! 

While most of the protagonists use violence and force, others used the most unfailing weapon of all- their intellect and presence of mind! Nishikant Kamat’s Drishyam remains the gold standard for this. Vijay Salgaonkar, essayed by Ajay Devgn, presented a nightmarish situation of protecting his family from a system that is supposed to protect them, in a manner that was rooted in realism and thrilling in the most convincing fashion. The brilliance of Drishyam lies in the manner in which Vijay defends his family - not with a gun but using bus tickets, restaurant bills, and ATM receipts to create an alternate reality that turns the powerful into helpless beings!

Kahaani gave this struggle a skillful female perspective with the pursuits of Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), who represented the perceived vulnerability of a lone, pregnant woman navigating a chaotic city in search of her missing husband. However, in the entirety, the film came across as a fine departure from the idea of a helpless middle-class victim, revealing that the most unexpected person can be the most lethal strategist when it comes to vengeance. The film, till date remains a fine example of how domestic trauma can be weaponized into a sophisticated revenge plot.

However, middle-class angst isn’t always this restrained. In Sriram Raghavan’s Badlapur, we witnessed the most terrifying evolution of a protagonist from a loving family man to a cold-blooded butcher. The crime-thriller saw Raghu (Varun Dhawan), a youngster losing his wife and child to a bank robbery, following which he spirals into a life of grief and despair, turning him into a revenge-hungry monster. The film made us confront a scathing reality - the line between a grieving victim and a ruthless criminal is dangerously thin, especially if law doesn’t offer any closure! 

As a country obsessed with cinema, we, the largely honest, tax-paying ordinary citizens live our lives voraciously through these characters. While we have often been forced to confront the uncomfortable truth of how irrelevant we are, the truth hits hard every time we’re made to stop for a laal batti, no matter how late we are for an exam, work, or even a medical emergency. It strikes again when a VVIP is gladly escorted ahead at a religious pandal, while the rest of us are treated like cattle in endless queues, or when we can’t get our work done because we don’t have the cash to pay a bribe. Hence, the acts of these fictional actors becoming the architects of their own justice provide us a sense of catharsis or closure, and the genre ends up resonating well with the audience!  

Which other films deserved to be in this list? Tell us in the comments below!