Photo Study #26: Profit and Loss

One of the major players in the Mumbai underworld, Manjit Walia is a criminal without conscience. He has moved up the ladder by way of cold-blooded murder and deliberate setups with corrupt police officials. Nothing is beneath him to succeed; his favorite adage is, "Saab ganda hai par dhanda hai ye." (Things are dirty but it's business.) 

He is a predator in every sense of the word - from his dealings with other "company" members - to encounters in clubs or bars - people sense the barely-controlled violence in his every smouldering glance and lightning-fast movement; there is a deadly grace about him that encourages a dangerous desire to bask in his presence, despite the consequences. He wears his hair cut stylishly short and spiked with bright steel piercing his ears and septum.

I love Bollywood movies - including the ones with the song and dance numbers! I got the idea of "Manjit" from watching a crime drama called "Company" with Vivek Oberoi as one of the major stars.

 

The film highlights the economics behind running an Indian mafia organization. In the opening (including a song, of course), Ajay Devgan describes the modus operandi of underworld:

"Despite anybody telling anything else, in this world everything is done for profit, so is this business. We don't pay taxes, neither do we keep accounts; For this work is done by inducing fear. Anybody can join us anytime, but can never resign. Whoever breaks our law, is broken by us. Here friendship, respect or honesty, the only real reason behind all these is same thing — Profit." During murder/extortion scenes following, Ajay Devgan adds "profit happens — like this, like this or like that."