Section 375 (2019) Review!!

Synopsis – A celebrated Bollywood director Rohan Khurana stands accused by a female member of his crew, Anjali Dangle of having raped her at his residence.

My Take – Last year’s #MeToo movement ignited Hollywood then later spread like a wildfire to India as well, bringing in many cold cases into the limelight. Without a doubt, rape is a heinous crime which unfortunately takes place rigorously around the world to date, however following the massive uproar caused by the brutal Nirbahaya 2012 Delhi gang rape, the Indian judicial system has tried their best to set some strict law codes to impose stronger effect.

However, due to the thin line between law and justice, it is very much possible that some people have been using this codes to carry out their own form of revenge fantasies. While few cases have been deemed genuine, others have seen an unapologetic victim being falsely implicated in a case in order to carry out a vengeful act. The magnitude of impact for these fabricated cases are so severe that they have caused death and destruction of an innocent life.

The motive behind the Me Too movement has always been quite genuine, however, some of these claims turned out to be as diluted as people being accused of some form misconduct taken place years ago without any kind of genuine evidence. With public sentiment at its complete high, hence, it is possible that judges are being influenced to carry out a sentence based on what the media or the ill-informed may deem right.

Here, director Ajay Bahl and writer Manish Gupta take a look at this aspects in the form of a captivating courtroom drama. While such kind of dramas can tend to be a tedious watch, here, the film manages to engage us throughout with its tight screenplay and powerful performances.

Sure, the film is never as memorable as fellow films like Jolly LLB, Jolly LLB 2 and Pink, it does however manage to leave a lasting impact, depending on which side you choose to be.

The story follows an infamous Bollywood director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) who is accused of raping Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra), a junior costume assistant at his residence. With all the circumstantial evidence piled up against him, Rohan is immediately found guilty and sentenced to 10-years of rigorous imprisonment by a local court.

However, Rohan’s wife (Shriswara) believes that he is innocent and approaches Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna), a prominent lawyer in the city, who readily agrees to work as his defense at the Mumbai High Court, just to prove how grossly the investigation was handled.

However, opposing him from Anjali’s side to uphold the local court’s decision is his former employee, Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadda), who has been on a roll fighting for women’s rights. Unknown to them, in what appeared at first to be a simple open-and-shut case, unravels into a tangled mess of truth and lies, which may end up destroying lives.

In the first 15 minutes itself, the film will have you squirming in your seats. An aggressive rape scene and a brutal line of questioning of the victim later, the film sets its milieu perfectly. With a running time of 125 minutes, the narrative keeps you on the edge of your seat as the courtroom drama swings from one end of the spectrum to the other. The film focuses on the courtroom drama and the outside factors influencing a judge’s decision. I

n the process, we witness the loopholes of the law and how it could be misused, an accusation faced by laws regarding sexual harassment at many occasions. This also seems to be the film’s intention. The film manages to unfold the suspense slowly and logically, keeping the consequence and judgement open to debate, interpretation and it’s for you to take sides. The director never tells us what exactly happened on the date of the crime, but he reconstructs the events as per the lawyers’ versions.

It’s a ploy to keep us blinkered, and not let us be tilted towards one party. Similar to BA Pass, Bahl’s impressive directorial debut about the sinister lanes of Delhi, this one also intends to bring out the dark side of the truth. We are left with plausible versions of the incidents and you view it completely from the perspective of your own life experiences and worldview.

We are left with many important questions to ponder about like was it actually rape? Is rape a mere physical act that happens on one given day or there’s more to it? Does emotional manipulation leading to sex constitutes as rape? There is no right or wrong, but dubious characters with ambiguous morality.

While packing in various standpoints in a riveting manner to showcase a balanced view and presenting the two sides of the story, the complicated screenplay also sets out to highlight how media and social media trials take over a criminal case of this nature. Manish Gupta deserves appreciation for writing such a brave script and that too with some negative kind of climax to keep faith on judicial system alive.

But for all its strengths, the film does have its shortcomings too. For one, the build-up of the two main characters – the lawyers, who represent the accused and the survivor, is skewed. Tarun Saluja’s character is well defined, his background, family, home is effectively sketched and he is also given the smarter comebacks, while Hiral Gandhi is barely fleshed out.

Also, the sequences depicting protests by activists outside the Mumbai High Court to give the narrative a sense of drama are way over-the-top at times. However, a big part of why the film works is its top casting.

Here, Akshaye Khanna delivers yet another superlative performance. Regaining his form as a superb actor, Khanna stands out as the best among the cast. Watch out for him in the second half when he questions the witnesses in the courtroom. It is unforgettable performance which should be lauded for his sheer brilliance.

Richa Chaddha balances his act with yet another natural performance, while Rahul Bhat and Meera Chopra play their part well. In supporting roles, Shriswara, Krutika Desai and Kishore Kadam are also quite magnificent. On the whole, ‘Section 375’ is a bold and raw film which deserves applause for its genuine attempt and strong performances.