This Truth Leaves A Bitter After-taste

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Over the years, many a filmmaker have decided to handle a sensitive topic and immortalize it on the silver screen. Needless to say, many ended up with disastrous results and former IPS officer turned anti-corruption crusader YP Singh is one of them. The story of a lone upright cop waging a losing battle against the corrupt system is age-old and maybe Singh should have taken a leaf or two from Govind Nihalani or E Niwas's book, who have tackled the issue beautifully with their films Ardh Satya and Shool respectively.

Kya Yahi Sach Hai traces the journey of Raghu Kumar (Rajiv Roda), a young IPS officer with a loving wife, who makes a name for himself in Kolhapur because of his no-nonsense and upright attitude. However, this does not impress his superiors, who are in cahoots with the local criminal elements and a conspiracy is hatched to have Kumar transferred to Mumbai.

Landing in the city of dreams, Kumar starts dealing out his own brand of justice, cracking down on everyone from doctors demanding bribes to pubs dealing drugs to white collar criminals defrauding banks. This again angers the horde of corrupt officials-from the Commissioner of Police right upto the Chief Minister, who are left gnashing their teeth at the thought of Kumar charging in to eliminate crime and corruption.

Kumar is ostracized by his peers and superiors and finally dismissed from service by using underhand tactics employed by his enemies to besmirch his name. The film ends with an impassioned plea by the producer Abha Singh to rise against corruption and take the right path.

At the very outset, it should be said that though Singh means well, his efforts are washed away by a variety of reasons-pathetic performances, shoddy editing, a weak script and screenplay and forgettable music. Singh wastes almost half an hour at the beginning and end of the film displaying a police parade, which has no relevance whatsoever to the main plot.

Singh also tends to go overboard in certain scenes. We all agree that corruption and favouritism is rampant in the police force, but showing an over the top spineless police commissioner literally touching his head to the chief minister's feet in full view of servants serving tea is taking it a bit too far. Moreover, Raghu Kumar, being an honest police officer, roams around the city with his wife on a scooter or rickshaws! Whatever happened to official cars used by senior police officers?!

All in all, Kya Yahi Sach Hai remains an absolutely avoidable fare. For fans of realistic cop dramas, all we say is- stick to Ardh Satya.