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Aakrosh
Directed by	Govind Nihalani
Produced by	NFDC / Devi Dutt
Written by	Vijay Tendulkar (Screenplay); Satyadev Dubey (Dialogue)
Starring	Naseeruddin Shah; Smita Patil; Amrish Puri; Om Puri
Music by	Ajit Verman
Cinematography	Govind Nihalani
Editing by	Keshav Naidu
Release date(s)	1980
Running time	144 min
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Aakrosh (Cry of the Wounded) is a 1980 Hindi arthouse movie directed by auteur Govind Nihalani, and written by renowned Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar.

The film starred Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Amrish Puri in lead roles and went to win 1980 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and several Filmfare Awards

It also won the 'Golden Peacock' for the Best Film at the International Film Festival of India^[1].

This was the debut film of Nihalani, who went on to be known for his dark yet frighteningly real depictions of the human angst in other landmark alternative movies such as Ardh Satya and Tamas.^[2].

It is also in the list of 60 films that shaped the Indian film industry spanning six decades ^[3].

[edit] Overview

Allegedly based on a true incident reported on page 7 of a local newspaper, the film was a scathing satire on the corruption in the judicial system, and victimization of the underprivileged by the able and the powerful ^[4].

The film forms a part of the series of works, based around explorations in violence, written by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar, who had earlier written Shyam Benegal's Nishant (1974) and went to write Govind Nihalani's next surprise breakaway hit, Ardh Satya (1983).

Here the victim is shown so traumatized by excessive oppression and violation of his humanity, that he does not utter a single word throughout the length of the film {until the very end; see later} and only bears a stunned look ^[5], though later he uses the same violence as a tool, to express his own sense of violation, and rage (Aakrosh) ^[6].

Basically, the story is of a peasant who is oppressed by landowners & his foremen while trying to eke out a living as a daily laborer. His comely wife, played by Smita Patil is raped by the foreman - who then has him arrested in order to hide his own crime. His wife commits suicide out of shame. The police bring him to the funeral grounds in manacles & shackles to complete the Last Rites of his dead wife by lighting the funeral pyre - which in the Hindu religion only the husband has the right to.

Standing beside the burning funeral pyre, he sees the foreman looking at his pre-pubescent sister with lustful eyes. Divining the fate that is in store for her, he grabs an axe and chops off his sister's head, in order to forestall her dire future as perpetual victim, as he sees it. Upon completion of this hapless act of a desperate & downtrodden man, he raises his face towards the skies and screams, and screams and screams - the first time that we hear the sound of his voice in the movie : a device similar to Andrei Tarkovsky's showing of the icons in brilliant color at the end of his 3-hour long black-and-white film Andrei Rublyev.

[edit] Aakrosh and Yagnam

The aggressive act of Lahanya Biku {literal trans.: Beggar of the Lahanya caste} mirrors the climax of Telugu short story "Yagnam" by Kalipatnam Ramarao.^{[citation needed]}

Appalanaidu, a character in Yagnam, cuts the throat of his child by an axe after the verdict delivered by village heads comes against him. In view of the future sorrow of his heirs, now that he will not be there to protect them or provide for them, Appalanaidu commits this act.^{[citation needed]}

In Aakrosh, the story line is very similar, as a similar murderous act is carried out by Biku - as he envisions the traumatic future of his sister.