The premise of Follower might seem to be heavily inclined towards a political drama, but interestingly, the politics in the drama is only reduced to the background. So all the details about a protest being held or a curfew being set is only reduced to the TV flashes with anchors sensationalizing the incident. In that regard, the drama continues to remain intimate and focused towards the life of Raghu. The non-linear narrative plays its part too – at the very beginning when the drama opens with a death, you witness Raghu being aggressively questioned about the incident. A little flashback clears the air about Raghu and his right-winged political impressions – you see him working for an agency that wishes to call itself media but is only indulgent in being an IT cell. In a scene, you see Raghu’s boss literally dictating a paragraph that would double up on the internet as a toolkit. The content remains enticing and something that would not only flair up young minds, but sway them towards extremism, which in turn would help a local politician with his vote bank. The dispute is with respect to the identity of the land – whether it is a part of the state of Maharashtra or Karnataka. But the writing doesn’t wish to dwell on this fact – instead, it focuses on the daily life of Raghu leading up to the concerned incident at the start of the film.

The fascinating aspect of the writing remains its characterization. When you are first acquainted with Raghu, you are privy to the repercussions of his radicalization. But as the drama further unfolds, you truly witness an individual that has lost the ability to question while completely being swayed in the right-wave of politics (the issue isn’t the right or the left wave of politics but the inability of an individual to question no matter his political lineage). In a scene, you see him taking a selfie with a poster featuring a hate-spewing politician, in another, you see him doubling up as an internal troll and hate-commenting on a post. These remain fleeting instances but important ones in determining the brain-washed mentality of an individual. You are also acquainted with folks around him – Raghu’s nagging mother who always sides with his brother who works in the US and boasts of a grand job unlike Raghu.

There is also Parveen (Donna Munshi), a Muslim friend of Raghu whom the latter is in love with. In a wonderfully staged scene, you see a stalking Raghu following Parveen on a bike in order to gift her a present. This, until things turn ugly when Parveen doesn’t reciprocate feelings for Raghu, before being witness to his fury. This scene tells us about the outgrown distance between Raghu who hasn’t outgrown his feelings, and Parveen who shares a warm vibe with a common friend Sachin (Harshad Nalawade) despite being a single mother. During this phase, you are also acquainted to Sachin, a leftist youtuber who has opposing views to Raghu. Essentially you are witness to Sachin and Raghu being at two opposite ends of the spectrum, with each stakeholder representing a side contributing to the dispute of the land. This rivalry of theirs also extends to their individual social medias, that are often voices or more specifically replies to each other’s point of views. In this regard, the voice of Raghu spews of violence and hatred that ends with a tragedy.

Interestingly, the writing doesn’t wish to dwell on the politics of the land, that is deliberately reduced to a broad-stroke. It is almost symbolic of the writing equating any political conflict to a mere speck of dust, while wishing to get into the psyche of a character who unknowingly turns himself into a troll. The extended flashback gives us a completely different perspective with respect to the character of Raghu – you see him being best of friends with Parveen and Sachin, while hanging out with atleast two of them at any particular instance. There is an empathetic layer to Raghu that he extends towards his friends, particularly Parveen when she reveals that she is pregnant but wishes to leave her husband. The political conflict that has already extended to his home in the form of his father, hardly impacts Raghu to begin with. Hence, in a scene he remains unnerved even while bringing home a sign-board comprising of the name of his father’s shop that is written in Marathi (as opposed to Kannada, or all three languages). He also remains largely unfazed initially after not getting a promotion at a college wherein he is a teacher. The assumption from people around him always remained on how the promotions are reserved only for local Kannadigas. And hence, this gradual shifting mindset of Raghu doubles up as a searing character study.

There are layers to the issues faced by Raghu who soon is tasked with handling the shop, after his father’s demise, much to his dismay. You notice Raghu slowly slipping down the slope in terms of his mental health that initially stems from his own family and his nagging mother who refuses to grant her son a single leave, even as Raghu has a daily chore of managing the shop. There is this stifled energy that keeps building inside Raghu, with his occasional form of escapism being either Parveen or Sachin or both. Parallelly, the external buildup of the political conflict has a direct impact on Raghu. The trigger point is Raghu’s brief argument with Sachin, who cites Raghu’s lack of ability to ask questions while seemingly questioning the political motive of the Marathas for their claim of the land. His argument is simple – how would any of it have an impact on the lives of daily people. He seemingly also supports Raghu’s landlord in his quest of raising the rent of his shop, while having no issues with the ‘removal’ of the Marathi signboard, much to Raghu’s dismay.

In a scene, you see Raghu caught in a tricky situation while his shop remains the centerpoint of an opposing political conflict. You can see the dilemma of an individual who is brought to think that he is marginalized by people around him, thereby losing his ability to think rationally and being systematically brainwashed. The thinking of being left behind or majorly marginalized stems from his personal equation with Parveen and Sachin, even as he catches the duo in an intimate position. The narrative of Us Versus Them is systematically sown in the mind of Raghu, who begins to equate his personal experiences with a larger landscape. Hence, all issues around him automatically become his personal, while treading on a journey of extremism that remains a one-way journey. It is intimate and frightening if you were to compare Raghu’s journey with several others on the internet who often double up as faceless trolls. The commentary here is intimate and personal while only using the politics as a single stick of fire that is designed to empower the vulnerables. The screenplay is deeply impactful and makes for a pondering watch.