Section 375 Review: A Superbly Crafted And Performed Film That Is Pointless If Not Dangerous
When you put actors like Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chaddha in a space that is as real as it is dramatic, fireworks are supposed to happen and this one is no exception. From the stellar performances to the utterly efficient and crisp editing, it is a crash course on how court dramas can be executed flawlessy. Even Meera Chopra and Rahul Bhatt gives exactly what was needed out of them and there isn't a single frame in the film that seems extra or unncessary or irrelevant to the narrative.
The surroundings seem authentic and the court proceedings real with just the right amount of cinematic drama. The morbid details of how rape investigation scar the rape survivors for life is brilliantly reflected and its honestly chill-inducing.
So has director Ajay Bahl managed to deliver a knock out film? Perhaps no.
Section 375 of the Indian constitution deals with the tricky aspect of consent in matters of sexual harassment. It especially deals with situations where the consent is obtained by threatening of pressurizing the victim in any way. It is a tricky topic to handle and this is where the film completely fails.
It is difficult to discuss it without giving away major spoilers but the director is completely clueless about what he actually wants to say.
Just like the judges in the film, the director also does not know whether to give way to public sentiments surrounding this touchy matter or do something bold and take a stand. So it weirdly oscillates between both failing to make any pertinent point whatsoever.
When one makes a film on a constitutional article it attempts to understand the impact of the said law in real-life situations and take a stand. Like Article 15 did. However, this one fails to commit to anything entirely and thus one simply cannot understand why the director bothered to make the film in the first place. If the idea was to let audiences form their own opinions then that did not come through, at least for me and hence I would have to call it a failure and the film utterly unnecessary.
The release of the film, (co-incidentally?) comes around the same time when the documentary 'India Sons' is making a strong case about men who are falsely accused of rape by women who misuse these stringent rape laws to settle personal scores.
While the film brushes upon the argument of how false cases are ultimately hurting the real rape victims, there is always a chance of the open-mindedness of the film to strengthen the voices against pro-women rape laws that put men in a vulnerable position. To be honest, it is not easy to navigate this mess and while as a woman I see the need to have these procedures in place, it is well within the rights of a man to feel threatened by the same and be scared of having it misused against him by a jilted woman. But that is perhaps all the more reason why it was imperative that the film makes it stand clear because a powerful voice that is confused can do more damage than pure evil.
On the other hand, if the film is encouraging the false rape cases against innocent men as a form of revenge for outraging the integrity of woman in some way, it is also highly problematic. So it is dangerous either way and confused in every possible way, which hardly sounds like the description of a good film.
Apart from the film's complete lack of clarity, there are issues that might bug some. While we see the family life of the main defense counsel Tarun Saluja played by a flawless Akshaye Khanna, the only time we know anything about Hiral Gandhi, played by Richa Sharma, is a conversation where it is lightly revealed that she is going through a bad marriage and how even the most progressive husbands turn regressive when the morning chai is not served on time. Now the character traits of Hiral are literally belted out by Tarun's junior counsel before the trial where it is said that she is a champion of women rights and a fiery one at that.
Honestly, it is a little sexist to conclude that a champion of women rights has to have a bad marriage to push her into that direction. Clearly, studying law and being woke can't lead to women empowerment, but we need to be ill-treated by men to finally draw the sword against them!
Also, borrowing points from Aitraaz is not cool because when it comes to films on sexual harassment and courtroom dramas, every bit of that film is fresh in our memories.
To sum it up, Article 375 is a very well performed, well-edited and perhaps even a well-intentioned film that is extremely watchable. But the attempt to touch upon too many sensitive topics without having the guts to make a strong, individual and pertinent point is pointless at its best and stirring troubles at its absolute worst and no, making an intelligent-sounding argument about how law and justice are in conflict does not help the case.