Frames per Second: Waiting for the Barbarians

Re-watching Newton is a must during the election season to remind ourselves of the essentially performative nature of Indian democracy

As rookie bureaucrat Newton Kumar (Rajkummar Rao) and his colleagues wait at the election booth deep inside the forests of central India that are also the hotbed of radical leftist militancy, one of them starts describing the mythical history of the place. Loknath (Raghuvir Yadav) tells Newton, Malko Netam (Anjali Patil), and Shambhu (Mukesh Prajapati) that these forests find mention in the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana. “Dandakaranya is the forest of danda or punishment,” he says. “This is where Ram, Sita and Laxman were exiled; this is where Surpanakha had her nose cut, and this is where Sita violated the