Ahmedabad University

Amrut Mody School of Management

2019-2020 Winter Semester
MGT-165 Business and Organizational Ethics

Kavya Shah
AU1900001
Section 2

Movies
ASSIGNMENT 2: DRISHYAM AND BLOOD DIAMOND

DRISHYAM

Drishyam is a thriller, released in India on 31 July 2015, receiving

overwhelming reviews from the critics. It is a remake of the Malyalam movie
of the same name. It shuns the standard trappings of the suspense genre and is
well stocked with surprises. The movie keeps us glued to our seats till the end
and leaves the audience stunned. It has topped the charts because of the message
it sends about the issue. It posits an ethical dilemma.

The film is directed by Nishikant Kamat and written by Upendra Sidhaye. It

initially appears as a catch-me-if-you-can kind of thriller but eventually it does
away with suspense plots. It is a story of a strong and loving family man who
would go to any length to protect them.

Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) runs a cable TV service in Goa. He is an orphan

and is married to Nandini (Shriya Saran) and have two daughters - Anju and
Anu. He is the ‘head-of-the-family’.

The story unfolds when during a nature camp, a hidden cellphone camera
records, his daughter Anju, changing in a bathroom. Sameer Deshmukh
(Rishabh Chaddha) who is introduced as Sam is the culprit here. He is the son
of Inspector General of Goa Police – Meera Deshmukh. Tabu plays the
character of Meera Deshmukh. Anju is blackmailed and threatened by Sameer
for sexual favors. Sam refuses to delete the video clip unless his sexual demand
is fulfilled. This shows the grave violence of human rights.

Do we not hear such cases almost everyday? Cases of men who secretly film
girls and women changing in changing rooms for sexual gratification.

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The cameras that are installed for security reasons, are misused. They very
much justify the inappropriate behavior of these men. If they leak the footage,
the victim has to face the consequences.

Nandini begs of Sameer to leave them alone but he is firm on his decision.
Anju, in an attempt to break the cell phone, takes a swing at Sam and hits him in
the head instead, instantly killing him. The remainder of the film is a nervous
unfolding of how the family gets away with murder.
Nandini and Anju hide his body. This movie depicts and pinpoints a type of
anxiety faced by girls and women in India, where perverts are constantly
recording them.
This movie makes the audience wonder, ‘that could be me’ , ‘what if this
happens to my daughter’ , ‘what would I do if I were in this situation’.
Vijay hatches a plot to get rid of Sam’s body, his cellphone and dispose his car.
Ajay Devgn shines in his role of the protective father. However, Laxmikant
Gaitonde, the sub-inspector sees him do it. The first half might feel sluggish but
suspense begins as soon as Tabu, the hard-nosed cop enters. Meera (Tabu) starts
an investigation on realizing her son has gone missing.

Having predicted that the police would come calling out his alertness and
presence of mind, Vijay takes his family out on a trip to Panjim. He trains and
directs his family to face police questioning and interrogation firmly, without
being suspected. The police are unable to find a crack in their alibis since each
family member sticks to their story.
As a piece of evidence, Vijay even produces bus tickets and restaurant bills to
prove that their story is original.

Meera realizes that Vijay had made acquaintances with the owners of the
establishments and she understands the entire story. She finds out about Sam
and his video of Anju from Sam’s friend. With complete disregard of morality,
she goes behind Salgaonkars and continues to torture them, in a rather brutal
manner. This shows how police officers cross their limits and abuse their
authority as well as position, to satisfy their own ego. The director has very well
portrayed the immoral behavior that we witness today.

Not finding anything from the compost pit, she gives up. Meera resigns from
her post and she, along with her husband Mahesh meet Vijay at a seaside to ask
for forgiveness for their insensitive behavior.

She asks him if her son is alive or not. He tells her that an uninvited guest who
created chaos in his life has been sent to a place from where he can’t return. He
cryptically confesses to killing their son.

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The new new police inspector promises to find the body to which Vijay smiles.
A flashback depicts how Vijay had hidden his body under the floor of new
police station while it was under construction. He really proved that he is the
‘head-of-the-family’. The movie brings out the ‘revenge’ concept and
differentiates between what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

Besides, in the film, had Sameer been alive, he would have easily gotten away
with the crime, through his mother’s help, power and authority. The magnitude
of such white collar crimes has risen.
These are far less likely to be officially investigated and prosecuted. The justice
completely depends on how heavy your bank account is. The justice isn’t even
equal in the country. The rich get away with their dirty deeds and the poor get
locked up, unable to afford the bail. In simpler words – what happens in streets
is more visible than what happens in suites. Why? Is justice only for the rich
and powerful?

Drishyam works because we feel for each character of the film. It is a spot on
thriller and has heart-in-your-mouth moments. It succeeds at highlighting an
important social issue, not only in India but across the world.
It gained popularity and has been highly acclaimed by the audience because it
taps into a very real problem that has very real consequences. People can easily
relate to it, because such issues are an important ingredient of the news
headlines.

All in all, the way we look at and deal with this situation should be changed.
Laws must be strengthened such that these filthy rich people can’t get away
with the dirty work they do. Bail shouldn’t be granted to those who harass or
abuse women and girls. Power and authority shouldn’t be misused. Justice must
be served for all with proper punishment and fair treatment. The court must
ensure that no political cover or protection is provided to the culprit.

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 BLOOD DIAMOND

Blood Diamond, an adventure film, was released on 8 December in 2006 (USA)

and has been highly acclaimed by the audience. It is a war-thriller film directed
by Edward Zwick. The movie is about how a smuggler, a syndicate of
businessmen and a fisherman, match wits over the possession of a diamond.

Blood Diamonds refer to the diamonds that are mined in the war zones. These
are then traded to diamond companies and profit warlords across the world
directly for arms. The skills of the director are evident as he extracts stellar
performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly,
Arnold Vosloo and Kagiso Kuypers. The Civil War, between the political
government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), destroyed Sierra Leone
for decades.

The background of the movie is that of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1991-
2002. The movie projects a country which is torn apart by the struggle between
government loyalists and insurgent forces. It portrays the atrocities of the war. It
also depicts a grave violation of human rights.

The movie begins with the amputation of people’s hands to discourage them
and stop them from voting in the upcoming elections. Again, violation of human
rights and human exploitation. It is 1999 and political unrest is rampant in
Sierra Leone. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) intimidated Mende locals
and enslaved them. They would terrorize the countryside and the locals were
enslaved to harvest diamonds from the mines.
The RUF also forced children into mining of diamonds and into protecting
people against the government, as child soldiers.

Fisherman Solomon Vandy, played by Djimon Hounsou dreams that his son
would become a doctor. The rebels invade his village and he gets separated
from his family and has to work under Captain Poison – a ruthless warlord.
In the process, Vandy discovers a huge pink diamond in the river. Captain
Poison sees it but soon the area is raided by government troops so before being
captured, Vandy buries the stone underground.

While in jail, the captain announces about the pink stone Vandy had and Danny
Archer hears him. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an Anglo ex-
mercenary from Rhodesia who trades arms for diamonds. He gets caught while
smuggling diamonds into Liberia and gets arrested. They were intended for
Rudolph van de Kaap. He is a South African mining executive.

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Archer, on hearing about the pink diamond, is desperate to get it and so, he
arranges for Soloman’s release and offers to help him reunite with his family in
exchange for the diamond. He meets Colonel Coetzee, his boss. He commands
a private military company.
The sole purpose for Archer to find the pink diamond is to sell it and escape
from the continent but Coetzee wants it as a compensation for Archer’s botched
smuggling mission.

The story takes a twist when we find out tat the RUF insurgents escalate
hostilities; Freetown falls to their advance and Vandy’s son Dia is also among
those rounded up. He is supposed to seve as child soldier under Captain Poison.
Archer and Vandy escape to Lungi and plan to go to Kono.
Archer and Vandy find their way to Maddy Bowen, a journalist who helps
Vandy track down his family and in exchange, Archer will provide her evidence
of the illicit diamond trade. The trio reach Kono to find the diamond.

Archer, Solomon and Bowen escape as soon as the convoy is attacked. They
somehow find their way to the South-African mercenary force under Colonel
Coetzee.

The two men leave the camp, while Maddy catches a flight carrying foreigners
out of this conflict zone. Both reach the mining camp after an arduous overnight
trek. It is under the control of RUF. This was also the place where Soloman
discovered the huge pink diamond.

Soloman’s reunites with his son Dia who has now been completely brainwashed
by the rebels.
He refuses to acknowledge and recognize his own father. This is a rather painful
moment of Soloman. This makes one thing very evident, how children, in
modern times are brainwashed or rather hypnotized and how they are made to
do dirty work.

Soloman also encounters Captain Poison who immediately asks him to find the
diamond he had discovered and hidden earlier. In a desperate battle right after,
Soloman takes a swing at Poison and ends up killing him. Amidst the chaos,
Archer kills Coetzee and two other soldiers. Both the men realize that Colonel
Coetzee and Captain Poison wanted to steal the stone for themselves and
would’ve eventually killed them after locating & retrieving the diamond.

Dia holds both of them at gunpoint but Vandy confronts him and tries to
enlighten him by revealing who he was, trying to re-spark his memory.

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Archer soon realizes that he has been shot but he keeps that information to
himself. He entrusts the responsibility of the stone to Vandy, and asks him to
take if for his family. Archer makes a final call to Maddy and he asks her to
assist Soloman. He allows her to finish her article.

Vandy flies to London and meets a van de Kaap representative and exchanges
the pink stone for a large sum of money. He is reunited with his family. Maddy
as a part of her article, takes photographs of this deal, to publish them. Soloman
makes a guest appearance at a conference in Kimberly, on “Blood Diamonds”.

The sale and trade of illegal diamonds must be put to an end. Countries have
signed treaties and agreements to handle this situation to eradicate conflict
diamonds but there are still holes in the system. The lack of political will among
the governments, is the number one reason for the trade. And diamond isn’t the
only commodity being misused. Kidnapping and brainwashing children is
wrong at so many levels. They’re trained to kill civilians. The movie highlights
a real problem which needs strengthening of laws.

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REFERENCES:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Diamond

Blood diamond. (2020, January 20). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drishyam_(2015_film)

Drishyam (2015 film). (2020, January 23). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drishyam_(2015_film)