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Ashoka Ghatak is the main antagonist of the British-French 1992 movie City of Joy.
He was portrayed by Art Malik, who also played Salim Abu Aziz in True Lies and Lord Belasco in A Kid in King Arthur's Court.
Biography[]
The son of a crime lord who supervises Calcutta rickshaw’s system, he is visited by Hazari, a Bihar native, who asks to work as a rickshaw driver. Ashok’s father accepts to give him a chance. Also, Ashok noticed earlier the American ex-doctor Max Lowe entering his bar and ordered his gang to rob him. Ghatak keeps Lowe’s medaillon for himself.
The young criminal is spotted by the latter a few days later on a motorcycle, but he manages to escape him. Lowe sees him later when he and his coworker Joan Bethel are summoned by Ashok's father. The crime lord has increased the protection rant in exchange of allowing the dispensary where they work, to expand.
Therefore, they decide to move the dispensary to a new landowner. Ashok talks about it to his father, telling that Lowe needs to go away, but is quickly rebuffed by the elderly man. So, he goes to meet Hazari and reminds him of his duty of loyalty to his father.
To exert even more pressure, he brings in Pomina, a former prostitute, who is now at the dispensary and carves a Glasgow smile on her. He then organizes riots against the lepers of the City. Patients are beaten or immolated. To stop all this, Bethel promises to pay. Ghotak puts an end to the troubles and arranges to meet Hazari the next day. He revokes his license under the pretext he is not trustworthy anymore.
To entice Lowe to leave, he attempts to murder one of Hazari's sons by sending a man to hit him with a truck. The attempt fails.
Ashok’s father dies, leaving him his criminal empire. Ghatak increases rents again. The rickshaw’ drivers are protesting because of this. The new crime lord tries to justify it by citing the cost of maintaining the rickshaw business. When it does not work, he tells people that if he wants to strike, they can do it. Hazari tries to denounce him but is quickly chased by his men. Hazari decides to go to trial against him, and the judge claims the right to use his rickshaw without paying any royalties and to go on strike.
He pays a visit to Dr. Lowe, has beats him up by his thugs, and orders him to go home. Learning that Hazira has built a new rickshaw and continues practicing, he ambushes him, his family, and Max. At first pretending to be impressed by the rickshaw, he damages it with his knife. He orders Max to leave India and close the clinic and the school. The American doctor points out to him that he hurts his people, to which Ghatak approves, confessing that he does what he pleases with them. To punish Hazari for his defiance, he chooses one of his daughters and wants to mutilate her by carving a Glasgow smile on her face, claiming that she will bring to somebody a lot of joy. Lowe wants to stop him by force, only to be beaten by the evil man’ goons. Enraged, Hazari rushes at Ashok, who stabs him in the abdomen. The young criminal desperately calls for help. Nobody listens to him. Hazari jumps on top of him and hits his face against the street, badly injuring him. However, when he sees his family looking at him in a worried way, he gives up on killing him.
Ashoka is abandoned by his own men, who are impressed by Hazari’s valor, and is not seen again during the rest of movie. It can be assumed that he spent the rest of his days as an outcast in Calcutta.
Personality[]
Ashok is a cruel man who has a great sense of self-entitlement. He thinks he is free to do whatever he wants with people under his thumb. A violent person, he has the particularity to leave Glasgow smile on his victims who disobey him. He is shown to be sadistic, smiling when a leper with no legs is burning alive during a riot he caused. However, when attacked directly, Ghatak proves himself to be only a cowardly bully, as he screams his henchman for help and tries to run away instead of fighting, like the brave Hazari does.