Common people, as well as most of politicians, think that they run the Government. How naive! It’s the bureaucrats that run and control the show.
RHS Crossman, a brilliant economist, fabian socialist, thinker and a scholar was drafted in as a Minister in 50’s by the British Primer Minister (Macmillan? I am not sure). Crossman within a few days was so dazed and dumbstuck by the games and manipulations of the bureaucracy that he quit within a few months. During his Ministership days, he maintained a diary recording the notes of the happenings in office. After Crossman’s death, the notes were used by Lynn & Jay to reconstruct as well as write a beautiful screenplay (later a book too) for a BBC serial Ÿes Minister’’which became such a big hit, that a sequel too was subsequently released.
Doordarshan screened the serial many years back, it was quite popular here too. I had been waiting for someone to make similar realistic, entertaining serial cataoguing the antics of Indian Bureaucracy, the monster that Britishers left behind for our system too.
Now there is the Indian version . Casting is excellent. Farooq Sheikh as Suraj Prakash.the Minister( la-Jim Hacker),
Jayant Kripalani as Raja Bahadur Mathur.. the Chief Secretary (la-Sir Humphrey), and Paritosh as the personal secretary of the Minister( Bernard) have given an excellent account of themselves in the first episode that was aired yesterday.
Jayant Kripalani with his polish, meticulous mannersism, and clipped accent suits the role of a senior IAS officer very well, Farouq Sheikh has an excellent sense of timing as well as comedy which he had shown in movies like Chasme Baddoor and Katha etc.
We all have very high hopes from this serial. Production values, dialogues, script as well as the locales have been excellent so far, let’s hope this is the new beginning of politico-systemic theme.