Article 15

Movie Review (Hindi)

I think films are a hit when they hit close to our hearts. 

We have had the Constitution since 1950 and even today Indians are yet to understand and accept its contents. This is rampant in areas where politicians, lawmakers and security forces are in cahoots, loving the power they seem to have over people who are essentially poor. Poverty opens the doors to all sorts of discrimination. It is easy to beat down a person already compromised.

The movie, Article 15, has drawn out this chasm in our society. When the protectors of law decide to side with perpetrators of crime because they feel empowered, all is lost. The protagonist, Ayaan, played by Ayushmann Khurrana, is caught in this power play even though he is an IPS officer. He has no idea about societal discrimination in the heartland of his country he is proud of. He is therefore, quite shocked when his staff at the small station he is posted in, state their position in society based on their castes. He is enraged when the Dalits are referred to as They, as though they were from another planet.

The movie is gripping in the way the story is told and is edited. There is a sense of menace and danger lurking in the corners and I at times felt engulfed by its shadows. How a gang rape is easily turned into an honour killing, how witnesses are forced to change their statements, post-mortem reports are messed with, criminals are sheltered and go missing and how the CBI botches up, are all intelligently played. That the leader of the underground Dalit force could be an educated young man who could hold an intelligent conversation was a brilliant move as was the piling up of carcasses and overflowing septic tanks.

The cast was brilliant in their roles as was the music, not the forget the opening with Bob Dylan's "How many miles must a man walk down ..."

I have been an Anubhav Sinha fan since Mulk. I now really look forward to more such movies that need to be screened all over the country.