It would be easy to make fun of Deshdrohi. The posters have C-grade written all over them. Kamal Rashid Khan, the producer, is a mousy man with a wooden expression and an accent from the Hindi films of the ’70s; the fact that he has written the dialogue, story and screenplay and is also the leading star of the film says something about his motivation. The cast is stuffed with bad guys (Ranjeet, Raza Murad, Shakti Kapoor, Kader Khan, Prem Chopra) and nubile young things (Gracy Singh, Hrishita Bhatt, Kim Sharma, Rozza Catalano). And reports from at least one brave viewer suggest that rather than the darkly realistic film it purports to be, Deshdrohi  is actually a cocktail of bad, ’80s-style, Bollywood scenes. Indeed the trailer offers some telling glimpses of what the film is likely to offer: the hero making a dramatic speech about every part of the country being his natural home; the hero shooting cops; the hero shooting commandos; the hero being shot repeatedly and spurting blood from multiple wounds; the hero falling to the ground; the anxious heroine standing helpless on a dark, empty street.

Ever since the Maharashtra police recommended a temporary ban on Deshdrohi, the film’s maker has been reported to be making valiant efforts to get his film screened in Maharashtra. Kamal Rashid Khan comes across as an unlikely torch-bearer for freedom of expression. In his real life avatar he is fond of posing for the media in a black-and-white leather jacket, dark glasses, jeans with a Che Guevara image stamped above the knee and a chain around his neck with a revolver-shaped pendant. Given these circumstances it is hard not to be amused. But hard as it is it seems, one must take him seriously: for the film and its banning raise concerns about India’s future unity.

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