Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article-15-movie-review-ayushmann-khurrana-baradwaj-rangan
Spoilers ahead…
O ne of the biggest challenges of writing for our cinema is in crafting the interval block, which should cap off everything that came earlier (it should be a mini-climax, so to speak), and also leave you with enough emotion to tide you across the break. Anubhav Sinha’s Article 15 does this beautifully. The film begins with a song (Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind), and it ends with a song (the Narsinh Mehta bhajan, Vaishnava Jana To), and the interval point, too, features a song: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Vande Mataram, tuned by Tagore. The lyrics celebrate the wonders of the motherland, and they serve as an ironic counterpoint to the action on screen, where a frustrated and angry cop pins up a copy of Article 15 of the Indian Constitution on a notice board. Article 15 prohibits discrimination of all kinds (the issue, here, is casteism), but this ideal is a galaxy away from the local reality in Lalgaon, Uttar Pradesh. I was reminded of Deewar, where Saare jahaan se achcha echoes over the young Vijay and his mother discussing how to get Vijay’s younger brother into school despite their poverty. When contrasted with the inequalities in our society, the rah-rah-ism of these anthems becomes a joke. Only, no one’s laughing.
Continued at the link above.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Spandana
July 2, 2019
Haven’t watched the movie yet, so not much to say.
Except, one thing I found interesting was Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub’s Dalit character’s name – Nishad. Mahabharat enthusiasts will know that it is the name of the tribe which Ekalavya the archer belonged to.
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KK
July 2, 2019
I have always had this problem with your reviews. While you so effortlessly gets the ‘tune’ of movies like ‘Tamasha’ or ‘Dev D’ where many reviewers seem fumbling, you end up disliking more straightforward and bit ‘westernized’ in their film making style like the recent ‘Sonchiriya’ or this one or even ‘Udta punjab’. I mean,sure you may see entertainment as a necessary factor of any movie, but I never agree with that. It could also be the reason why you never like a Nolan movie. What’s so wrong about aspiring to become a bit ‘muted melodrama’ in your words?
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brangan
July 3, 2019
KK: That’s a valid point, and I don’t know how to explain it except to say it’s a personal preference. If a film is wholly “Indian” like MULK, or wholly “Western” like NEWTON, it really works for me. But these midway dramas unsettle me with their rhythms. in ARTICLE 15, for instance, I really winced when Nishad gave that speech about wanting to enjoy the moonlight, etc. That is not the tone of this film, and it sticks out very badly.
PS: I hope you didn’t think I completely disliked SONCHIRIYA or this film. I think they are decent films, and parts of them work very well for me — just not as an organic whole.
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chronophlogiston
July 4, 2019
I have a suggestion. Could you put the language of the film being reviewed in a caption somewhere at the start of the article? Will be useful in deciding which reviews to read.
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Devarsi Ghosh
July 5, 2019
I remember cringing a bit when Nishad gives that moonlight line, but when moments like these happen, my head automatically goes to the script. What was the thinking here? Why suddenly this emotional admission? It is surely to enhance the poignancy of the sequence that comes right after — his death. Cool. But could there have been a better way to do it? OR, without this scene, would his death be any less poignant? OR, do we even need to hit that emotional beat anyway — instead Anubhav could do what Dibakar did with the death of the Pitobash character in Shanghai. It is an inevitable death (in case no one remembers, Pitobash is the loudmouth low-level goon who’s killed silently off screen during a riot). So, would Nishad’s death be more effective without exposition?
Thing is screenwriting is extremely tricky. For an Indian audience, whose sensibilities are so diverse, it is trick-IER. There’s always a tug of war between wanting to underplay things or cook them well.
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Anu Warrier
July 5, 2019
I saw the film yesterday. I must say that I liked it very much indeed. Funnily enough, when the scene with Nishad and Gaura came up, I remembered what you’d written about it. And I didn’t feel that way. I thought it was a rare moment of tenderness that he gets to express amidst the harsher realities of their lives so far. Especially when he says he cannot afford to show weakness because the hopes of many depend on his strength. That emotional breakdown seemed like that of a man beyond his tether.
I didn’t even mind the off-and-on messaging between Ayan and Aditi. Except once. When she says “You joined the civil service for your father; you may become an activist for me, but unless you find yourself, you can never be there for me.” That jarred a little bit in the context of the scenes that went before and after.
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brangan
July 10, 2019
Screenwriter Gaurav Solanki talks about the text and subtext of the Anubhav Sinha film…
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/article-15-is-a-critique-of-casteism-gaurav-solanki/article28354226.ece
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rnjbond
July 14, 2019
I don’t know about this one. You’re still one of my favorite reviewers, because you’re willing to go more in-depth than most. Plus you’re one of the few major reviewers who actually fully appreciated Tamasha, which remains a criminally underrated movie.
But in this case, it feels you took a movie that you knew was getting universal praise (with some ill-thought out criticism around the main character being a Brahman man) and decided to nitpick for the sake of contrarianism. You spend a third of the review talking about why the movie isn’t as good as it could have been and how some small moments didn’t work for you… while missing the bigger picture.
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vinjk
September 6, 2019
finally watched Article 15 (on Netflix). I was disappointed by the film. It was very mediocre. The subject of the movie, the situation are all good but it doesn’t build up to anything worthwhile.
Ayushman Khurana and his wife messaging and calls and meeting were very awkward. A lot of one-dimensional cardboard characters (Brahmadutt, CBI officer(Nasser))…
I have the same question CBI officer asks Ayan Ranjan…why do you ask people’s caste?
(The first time when he asks I thought he was trying to understand the dynamics. But he keeps on asking throughout the movie and the movie even ends with that question.)
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