Jogi

Year: 2022

Actors: Diljit Dosanjh, Amyra Dastur, Hiten Tejwani, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub

Duration: 116 min

The film is set in Delhi's eastside neighbourhood of Trilokpuri, and depicts a three-day period in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984, four months after Operation Blue Star. In the film, stories of the fictional characters centre on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. It's a usual routine morning for Jogi's traditional working class Sikh family of three generations. Children get ready for school, women fry parathas, and elders and men sit around the table and make jokes. They have no idea as to what is about to happen. By the time Jogi and his father are on the bus to work, news of Indira Gandhi's assassination by her two Sikh bodyguards that morning, spreads. Jogi asks the men who begin to beat him and his father "what is our fault?" to which the reply is you are a sardar. Over the following three days, Sikhs are scapegoated and scenes depict pockets of violence towards them. They are recognised by their distinct appearances and by their names on the electoral register, propagated by the region's MLA Tejpal Arora. Jogi's brother-in-law is beaten as he opens his shop and burned alive. Mobs of people run down the streets and burn buildings. A man in a turban is shown running and on fire shouting for help, a Sikh family in a car are burned. Jogi returns home to find an empty house and his neighbours are cutting their children's hair in the hope that they will not be recognised. When Jogi reaches his sister's house, he sees Sukhi (Jogi's elder brother) along with other family members sitting and crying around Heer who is stitching a shirt on the sewing machine for her dead husband. Jogi consoles his sister and watching this, Sukhi who is already in deep shock, cannot bear the pain of his sister and he breaks down. Rawinder, Jogi's friend and police officer, sees Jogi's family name on the target list and advises him to leave for Punjab. However, Jogi vows to help not just his own family but his whole Sikh community. Following an intensely emotional scene where he cuts his long hair, Rawinder and his friend Kareem, help him with his mission. A brief flashback explains Laali's vendetta with Jogi after Kamo's suicide. A final scene initially appearing to see the end of the community, eventually ends with the death of Jogi from a shot by Arora just moments after his community is saved by the Indian Army, brought in unexpectedly by Laali.

Genre: Drama   History   Thriller