why 'emerging india ' is one big 'chinatown'

chinatown is not an indian movie..it does not refer to anything indian, not even for a joke.. yes, it makes fun of the chinese in one scene.. Probably, Roman polanski, when he made the movie , never even thought of the subcontinent... it was 1974, the problems we so hotly debate now had not claimed this importance or, god forbid, we were still too naive at that time to understand something was happening to us.. (sure, we were being screwed, albeit anaesthetically)
                      But when i finished  watching this neo-noir movie, and the rolling credits came on to the screen, i could not think of anything else but india ..I have heard people say , the best novel begins after you read the last line.. Chinatown made me realize that this holds good for any heartfelt piece of art..A whole new story unfolded , the canvas kept expanding after the movie was over..it reminded me of an india, where people get thrown out of their farmlands,; where dams and power projects , displace people, mercilessly, at throwaway compensation rates , bearing the shining banner of development..(True , they never said , development of whom..)..where special economic zones and nuclear plants scatter the natives and tribes.. where, nothing can be done and finally , we resign to our fate and collapse on our porches, exhausted and say,'this is our country,this is how it has always been, we can change nothing here.. '

                                                                                                         The film is set in the los angeles of 1930s, when people were busy building the city it has become now..Big dams are being built, one of them recently broken, causing  a huge casualty, as we are told towards the start of the film..The head of the department of water and power, Mr.Hollis mulwray is the sole voice against the corporate boss's insistence on building another dam, he was the one who made the department of water and power a public owned corporation from what it was, a private company. It had been run by Mr.Hollis and his partner,Mr.Noah cross(who happens to be the anti thesis of our film), and it went public much against the wishes of latter.. Incidentally, Evelyn , noah cross' daughter is the wife of hollis mulwray..
                                                                                                         The movie begins with an impostor acting as evelyn hiring Jack gittes, the private detective to look into the illicit relationship she believes her husband is having..gittes is an ex-cop who resigned because of his bitter experiences in a place called chinatown, where the establishment  was so corrupt that he could not do anything good.The unsuspecting gittes, photographs mulwray with a younger girl which becomes a scandal .. Later, he realises the trap he had walked into . however, mr mulwray is found dead, drowned in the reservoir, the police calling it as an accident..after that the movie progresses with a lot of suspense..gittes is hired by the real  evelyn (faye dunaway)who says she wants to know her husband's murderer and also he is hired by noah cross ,who wants to find the girl mr mulwray had been seeing(he doesnt give a reason)
                                                                                                gittes finds out that noah cross is the murderer,; motive- hollis found out about the illegal diversion of water from the reservoir to the orange groves of the nearby valley, the land of which had been bought from poor farmers at cheap prices..the girl whom mulwray was seeing turns out to be the daughter of evelyn, born to , Mr.noah cross, not Mr.hollis ..yes the whole film revolves around the incest, the forcible rape of the daughter by her own rich father who believes who could buy anything ... who could get way with anything ..gittes is not able to do much to help evelyn  ..he is arrested and evelyn is shot while she flees with katherine, her daughter cum sister..noone wants the truths of gittes.. he walks way with his friends, muttering, 'this is chinatown..you can do nothing in china town .'.
                                                                                                                               for one moment , i ask you to look into the symbolism that each character stands for..Noah cross is the corporate boss , in nexus with bureaucracy and the police..he cheats people , exploits the farmers, swidles tax payers' money and rapes his own daughter..in one scene he says, 'at the right time and right place, a man is capable of anything' .. this is a sort of justification given, when someone is accused.. (you dint get the opportuniy to steal, lest you would have been the thief)- the proverbial sharing of the spoils with which satan lures man always..now if we consider the land and people as something of our own, we can understand the parellel between evelyn and the society.. she is the personification of the valley ,its people etc. she is raped by its caretakers, police and the corporates ..the people who try to protect her - mr hollis and gittes are helpless..the former is killed and the latter is not even  allowed to reveal the truth..
                                                                                                                          in one scene, gittes notices a difference in evelyn's eye and asks her what it is, for which she says that it is a birth defect.. it is not without coincidence that she is finally shot in the eye..does the director want to say, the society is too naive- it has not got the right vision? maybe ..
                                           throughout the movie jack nicholson- gittes, keeps saying , he could not do anything worthwhile in chinatown.. the  climax also takes place when both gittes and evelyn try to escape via chinatown.. chinatown grows in stature throughout the movie until the viewers accept the helplessness of anyone in chinatown.. we accept the words of chinatown's district attorney.. "you think you know what you are up against, but the truth is, you dont"
                                                            Alberuni said, 'though there are innumerable  human races in innumerable countries, the common thread that unites them is humanity, the common ness of their emotions, happiness, anger etc' - i will be tempted to add one more thing-corruption, corporate bossism.. after all we have to adapt our academic learnings for the changing world, shouldnt we..?
that is why i wouldnt be surprised if you call modern india as one big chinatown...