Copyright brisbanetimes
Having grown up side by side in a village in northern India, Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) are so close they could be brothers. In fact, they come from contrasting though equally marginalised backgrounds: the outgoing Shoaib is Muslim and the more introverted Chandan is Dalit, a member of the stigmatised caste formerly known as “untouchables”, like Ghaywan himself. The two share the dream of joining the police force and using their income to help their families. But only one of them appears to have any chance of success, and for a while life sends them down different paths – literally so when Shoaib is walking down a country lane and Chandan jogs past him on the main road, a fleeting blur in the foreground. This brief, wordless scene is typical of Ghaywan’s adroit visual storytelling, aided by the eye of his American cinematographer Pratik Shah, and perhaps by the film’s executive producer Martin Scorsese, who reportedly advised on the screenplay and editing. Sometimes Shoaib and Chandan are kept apart visually even when they share a scene. At other moments they’re positioned side by side against an out-of-focus background, suggesting a united front against a world inclined to keep them both at arm’s length.
