Article 15: Loud and clear

At the very beginning, Article 15 shows the sexual assaults that two lower-caste minor girls are subjected to. City-bred Ayan Ranjan, who spent his formative years in the West, is exposed to severe caste divide in Indian’s heartland as he travels to Lalgaon in his comfy SUV to take charge of the police station. When he wants to stop at a village to pick up a bottle of water, he is told the upper-caste people keep away from the shadow of these villagers, forget about drinking water from there. This holds up a mirror to another worrisome gap in India — between the urban elite and those living in rural areas.

The movie is inspired by the Badaun gangrape and murder that took place in 2014. The image of two minor girls hanging from a mango tree had shaken the consciousness of the nation. Article 15 revisits this haunting episode when two Dalit girls are found hanging from a tree. This is a hard-hitting reminder that nothing has changed. Ranjan leads the investigation into their deaths as well as the search to locate another minor girl who goes missing. In the course of the search, he stumbles upon the deep-rooted apathy of the system that is challenged by lower-caste villagers who are filled with rage.

A considerable chunk of the movie has been shot outdoors by cinematographer Ewan Mulligan. The skies remain mostly overcast and swathes of the field misty. This adds a sense of gloom and tension even as some visuals of rural India are striking. The script, written by Anubhav Sinha and Gaurav Solanki, delves deeper into reality with incidents of mob lynching and other crimes against members of the marginalised communities. This adds layers to the story that’s questioning this age-old stigma, something that Hindi cinema has not done in a long time.

What heightens the impact of Article 15 is its impressive cast. Ayushmann Khurrana, who chose this movie over a rom-com for his first collaboration with Sinha, continues with his streak of delivering impressive performances, one of them being that of a pianist pretending to be blind in Andhadhun. He seems to have almost perfected the art of making right choices. He also has the courage to throw his weight behind a story he believes in. Actors Manoj Pahwa and Kumud Mishra, who were integral to Mulk’s cast, lend their expertise to Article 15. The competent ensemble cast also features Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Sayani Gupta who drive the narrative.

With two back-to-back searing social dramas, Anubhav Sinha seems to have found his voice and a way of telling thought-provoking tales, without being preachy. He has gone for stories that are disturbingly close to real life. He has told them without pulling any punches. They work much better than the tale of fantasy Ra.One, an ambitious project he directed in 2011.