Article 15

Beaten, Gang Raped and Hung from the tree for a request as petty as an increment of a meagre sum of 3 Rupees in the wages. Unbelievable? Shocking?

Reality check, my readers!

Time to wake up from the slumber, for this is no fiction.              

Sitting on the lavish comfortable couches of our established modernised households in our urban culture and urbane, civilised, dignified lifestyles behind closed doors and blinded faith that the society is evolving and developing with progressing mindsets and the apparent metamorphosis of the thought processes, little are we familiar to the harsh truths that the society has so deeply inculcated into it that despite an independence of more than seven decades, there are people in the rural, rustic areas who still struggle for parity on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.

The existence of such practices in the 21^st century came as a blow in the face of the oblivious and a movie such as Article 15 has not only put forth the facts to its audience, it has acknowledged and highlighted the buried cases which have been suppressed despite the alarming cries of the sufferers.

Article 15 projects the true story of the horrific incident in the Badaun case in 2014, in which two young Dalit girls were gang raped and murdered, for a request of an increment in their wages by 3 Rupees.

Ayan Ranjan (Ayushmann Khurrana), an IPS officer, who is allotted this case to, is an educated urban officer, alienated to this part of the world, who initially finds the countryside amusingly beautiful until he encounters the hidden brutality as a result of which, he toils his sweat and blood to get to the roots of the case, whilst his police counterparts were rooting to not mess the balance that exists and people have accepted and succumbed to. An honest officer, brazen and bold, who in his own capacity, could manage to erect the existing norms, is brilliantly shown to the audience while urging an introspection within us to question our own mindsets.

The scripting, the screenplay and the cinematography is truly appreciable and the fact that such an issue is brought to the forefront, the efforts are commendable.

Scenes such as the ones with a man emerging from the deep trenches of the gutter for the menial jobs he is supposed to do, as a consequence of the caste he belongs to, or the one where Ayan is outraged and disgusted at the concepts of caste and its classification when the rural natives tell him about it as was shown in the trailer, is so impactful, it lasts through and after your watching experience.

Ayushmann Khurrana, in one of his interviews signified the essence of an eminent commercial actor to do this flick in order to reach to the masses and honestly so, there’s no denying here. While some might find it a bit difficult to perceive him in the role of a cop, he has yet again proved his merit and ability with his performance par excellence.
Article 15 questions the existing mindsets and norms, gives the viewers a run through the realities of our country that we have, conveniently, turned our eyes away from and castes a doubt at our own perceptions of the society.

The times when we classify our utensils from those of our helps at our household or when there are times we cringe at a job to do be done for we do not feel it is meant for us, there are incidents such as these that promulgate the disparity whilst marking the very line of difference between the sections of the society.

According to me, Article 15 deserves 3.5 out of 5 stars.