A Holy Conspiracy review: Uneven, verbose drama gives courtroom dramas a bad name

Saibal Mitra’s A Holy Conspiracy is the kind of film that should have existed only on paper. An adaptation of Inherit the Wind — a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee — it’s a film that is enthused by its grand ideas even when it doesn’t really have a clue about how exactly those ideas should be translated on screen. Much of it is because the courtroom drama — characters alternate between Bengali, English, Hindi, and Santhali — reduces storytelling to an exercise in exhibiting moral superiority. There is nothing that is more of a turn-off than a film that talks down to its audience, interested in only screaming at every given opportunity that it knows a lot. And given that A Holy Conspiracy stars a magnetic pairing — the late Soumitra Chatterjee pitted against the great Naseeruddin Shah — it feels like a missed opportunity that the film lacks voice, style, or even a clear direction.

To the film’s credit, the plot does invite curiosity: Set in the fictional town of Hillolganj, a region populated by Santhals who have converted to Christinanity, A Holy Conspiracy tracks the unlawful suspension of science teacher Kunal Joseph Baske (Sraman Chatterjee). A Santhal and an atheist, Baske refused to teach students in a Christian missionary school the Biblical story of evolution, instead favoring Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The school brands his decision as blasphemy, and a religious spin to the whole affair sees Baske’s case reach a court trial.

It nicely sets up the entries of Reverend Basanta Kumar Chatterjee (Soumitra Chatterjee) who is hired by the church pastor to represent the school. On the other side is disillusioned lawyer Anton D’Souza (Naseeruddin Shah) who speaks on behalf of Baske. Naturally, the courtroom becomes a site for social commentary on religion and science, fanaticism and the right to think independently.

The problem starts when Mitra’s screenplay starts displaying a tendency to use the courtroom only as a device instead of a setting. Which is to say that the filmmaker doesn’t exactly play with form or the genre in any way that justifies adapting a play into a film. For much of its bloated 143 minute-runtime, A Holy Conspiracy resembles a debating match between two people that is as constricted as it is unimaginative. Film is a medium for images before it is a vehicle for ideas and Mitra keeps forgetting it. The result is a film that could have been a podcast. But even that wouldn’t have justified the overbearing background score that rarely allows the film any breathing room. A similar flaw afflicts the dialogue of the film which is so heavy on breathless sermonizing that it confuses forcibly pushing a point down audience’s throats isn’t the same as making a point.

The self-conscious, issue-based approach that Mitra takes with A Holy Conspiracy, attempting to touch upon relevant political keywords visibly reduces the impact of its commentary. I say this because it’s easy to see the potential of such a script, especially in the backdrop of current-day religious intolerance. The right to think is afterall, really on trial. But unlike Mulk, A Holy Conspiracy falters in not just seeing its own perspective through but more importantly, in making a compelling case for it. As a result, the film doesn’t feel like it reaches a natural conclusion; instead feeling like Mitra abruptly wrapped up the proceedings. It feels glaring given that A Holy Conspiracy’s eventual ending is clear right from the beginning. That Mitra doesn’t really manage to make the journey worthwhile despite managing the coup of getting Chatterjee and Shah in the same frame is a criminal oversight.

Poulomi Das is a film and culture writer, critic, and programmer. Follow more of her writing on Twitter.

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