Abhiroop Das
Helmed and written by Pulkit, Netflix’s ‘Kartavya’ chronicles the social perils of the village of Jhamli through the eyes of SHO Pawan. Torn between his professional responsibilities and family woes, Pawan is tasked with protecting a journalist who is looking into a controversial religious cult known as Anand Shri Ashram. However, as tragedy unfolds and things completely slip out of Pawan’s control, he finds himself on a solo mission to unravel the truth. Over the course of the story, the Hindi crime thriller movie frames its setting as a reflection of a contrasting set of perspectives regarding family and community. As such, when Pawan comes face-to-face with the worst of humanity within the underbelly of Jhamli village, he risks everything he has ever stood for.
Jhamli is an Invented Backdrop For the Potent Social Critique of Kartavya
Jhamli is a fictional village created by writer-director Pulkit to serve as the setting for ‘Kartavya.’ While it may not have a direct basis in real life, the village is rendered in the archetypal image of a rural space in India, which allows the movie to bring in a host of associated themes and social inquiries. When asked about the uniquely gritty nature of the film, actor Saif Ali Khan told Deccan Chronicle that playing the role of Pawan allowed him to engage with a culture he is somewhat unfamiliar with. However, he also praised Pulkit’s ability to grasp the world, which suggests that much of what we see on screen is because of the deep research conducted by the writer and team. While Jhamli may not be real by itself, it effectively simulates an environment and cultural context that makes the film all the more immersive.
While Jhamli is a place crafted from scratch by the film’s creative team, its name does seem to bear a resemblance to some real-life urban and rural spaces in India. The Shamri village complex in the Sonipat district of Haryana, for instance, has a similar name to Jhamli, and also loosely lines up in terms of size and population. Notably, there is a real village named Jhamri in Gadarwara, a sub-district of Narsimhapur, in Madhya Pradesh, which is the state where the film is approximately set.
However, Jhamri is reported to be a very small village, with a total population of 322 people as per the 2011 Census, which does not align with how Jhamli is depicted in the film. Another place that bears some parallels is the city of Shamli, which is the capital of the Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh. While there is a chance that the movie draws some references from these cities, towns, and villages, most of the details surrounding Jhamli are fictional in nature and are likely inspired by broader aesthetic overlaps.
What makes the village of Jhamli almost feel like a character in its own right is how it weaves in a number of social threads and commentaries. Much like the protagonist, Pawan, it witnesses every instance of systemic injustice that takes place in ‘Kartavya,’ steeping the tale in a sense of realism. One of the major concepts introduced in the movie is how a regressive perspective on life and tradition can often make small towns and villages feel like an oppressive space in and of themselves, and that element is reflected in how Pulkit and his team capture Jhamli on-screen. Thus, through its fictionality, Jhamli becomes a template for a larger commentary on society and the cyclical nature of abuse, all of which are deeply contemporaneous subjects.
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