Das-Capital trailer: Kafkaesque tale of a man trapped in red tape

The late Rajen Kothari's last film, Das-Capital: Gulamon Ki Rajdhani will be screened on Cinemapreneur India's website from 20 November.

Featuring a cast of talented artistes like Yashpal Sharma, Pratibha Sharma, Rajpal Yadav, KK Raina, Seema Pahwa and Manoj Pahwa, the film is based on writer Shaiwal's short story, Arth Tantra. The film was Kothari's last directorial venture. The cinematographer and director died in 2012. 

The trailer for the film, which was co-directed by Dayal Nihalani, revolves around Purushottam (Yashpal Sharma), a lowly clerk in a small town. With corruption the order of the day, Purushottam is in a constant tug-of-war with his seniors, bureaucrats and politicians who want a piece of any enterprise that he undertakes.

With his salary being literally shared with a senior, Purushottam is left with no choice but to turn to underhand deals to stay afloat. The irony of his corruption being undermined by a hierarchy of dirty officials is both tragic and funny. When he tries to complain about one senior to the other, the latter demands a slice of the pie. With no escape in sight, Purushottam is caught at a crossroads. The trailer captures the Kafkaesque situation of a mofussil town in India where corruption is often a mode of survival.

The title of the film refers to Karl Marx's opus, which claimed that every war in society was a conflict of the classes. The trailer captures the inhumanity of the upper-class bureaucracy that goes to any length to keep lower-level officials under its heel.