An Article (15) Worth Reading!

(Image taken from imdb.com)

Caste has more or less been a prop in modern Hindi cinema, relegated to subtle actions (remember Roshan in Delhi-6 being given a beating after helping the cleaning woman Jalebi with garbage?) or alleged casteist lyrics in songs (the Aaja Nachle song). Sometimes it is a backdrop, in front of which issues like reservation are played out (Aarakshan, 2011). It is an issue that is skirted around, implied or even satirized, never addressed directly, and always quietly pushed under the proverbial carpet.

Article 15, however, is a film that drags the mud from under the carpet and puts it right in the middle of the center table. The title refers to Article 15 on the Indian constitution, which states that nobody shall be discriminated on the basis of their religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The film follows the story of Ayan Ranjan (the brilliant Ayushmann Khurrana), an IPS officer from elite Delhi who is posted to Laalgaon (a fictional village in UP) and finds himself wading through (at times, quite literally) the murky waters of casteism while trying to investigate the hanging of two Dalit girls. The film is an amalgamation of several real-life incidents, with the 2014 Badaun gang-rape case in the forefront.

It is crucial to deal with sensitive issues like caste and religion astutely, and director Anubhav Sinha doesn’t disappoint. Without sounding sanctimonious or preachy, Sinha lets the technical elements - screenplay, cinematography, music - of his film do most of the talking. From the get-go (and by this, I refer to scenes even before the film’s title pops up) the director intends for this film to be bold, in-your-face and unafraid to be disturbing.

(Image taken from imdb.com)

The cinematography by Ewan Mulligan (who also worked in Mulk) is a fantastic complement to the direction, with sweeping, aerial shots of sunshiny rural UP contrasting with the overcast, gloomy skies of the same place when crime unfolds. Just like in Delhi Crime (Netflix, 2019), the actual incident isn’t depicted, but there are close-up shots of the victims that will make you squirm uncomfortably. The makers of both the motion pictures rely on the viewers’ imagination to be deadlier than any visual, and boy is that true!

The final touch to the film is its music. The background score is reminiscent of horror films, ominously screeching and abruptly stopping in places, but constantly pulsating with the viewers’ heartbeats. The songs used in the film are mostly rustic but used to great effect - a bidaai song playing for a funeral scene being one such example. The dialogues, though rudimentary, are intense - a suspect, on being asked why he killed the girls, coldly says - ‘unko unki aukaat dikhaani thi’ (They needed to be put in their place). There are light moments too in the film, but they are mostly intended to be thought-provoking - a tense moment (also seen in the trailer) where Ayan discovers that each caste has several subcastes, that ends up in laughter, but makes us wonder whether there is an end to this caste divide.

(Image taken from imdb.com)

Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Sayani Gupta, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub - with such a gifted star cast, it would be an understatement to make a discernible statement like ‘ the acting was good’(Of course it was, what else did you expect?). It is unfair to single out any of them, but I must say it was immensely satisfying to see Manoj Pahwa not holding back any punches - generally, he is relegated to the caricatured, stereotypical on-the-fence chacha/mama/jijaji. It is nice that he has a well-written role focussed on him.

While director Sinha never loses his focus on the main theme of the film, he does get carried away, and sprinkles elements of other social evils - discrimination against women, politics, flawed bureaucracy - liberally throughout the film, especially the second half. A romantic angle between Gaura and Nishad, however touching, slows down the film and seems to be present only to show off the emotive range of the talented actors Sayani and Zeeshan. The same goes for the romance between Ayan and Aditi (played by Isha Talwar) - while I understand that the two characters are needed for different perspectives, I didn’t understand their points of contention with each other. But I must say, I’m glad there was no amourous song, a la...any Ajay Devgn or Akshay Kumar film!

Our regional films were somehow, always quite adept in making caste-based films well, be it Saptapadi (Telugu, 1980) or Sairat (Marathi, 2008). Even erstwhile Hindi films reached the caste threshold, with Sujata (1951). But with Article 15, modern mainstream Hindi films seem to have finally entered that field.

Prepare yourself, for Article 15 is going to be an uncomfortable watch, especially for us - the modern, educated, urban dwellers, for whom caste issues don’t surface very often in our daily lives, but lurk in the undercurrent. It is a primer in the evils of caste for us, just like it was for Ayan in the film.