Movie Review: Section 375

Producer- SCIPL, Bhushan Kumar and Kumar Mangat Pathak

Director- Ajay Bahl

Star Cast- Akshaye Khanna, Richha Chaddha, Meera Chopra, Rahul Bhatt, Sandhya Mridul , Kishor Kadam and Krutika Desai

Genre- Drama

Rating- ***1/2 (Three and a half)

Haunting Drama!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Movie director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhatt) is accused of raping a costume assistant Anjali (Meera Chopra) working on his film. While he is sentenced to jail by the Sessions Court, the case is reopened in the High Court. And in the face of media and public scrutiny, two determined lawyers battle it out. While high-profile lawyer Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) takes up the case to defend Rohan Khurana, the prosecution lawyer representing Anjali is Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadha), an earlier associate of Saluja, who is determined to get Anjali justice.  

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.

If the film Pink tackled  molestation and underlined that if a woman says No it means No, with Action 375 director Ajay Bahl tackles the sensitive issue of rape, while throwing light on abuse of power, dynamics of privilege and the absolute need for consent, will and permission when it comes to sex. For those not in the know, it spells out points of Section 375 of the IPC and how in some cases the section which was applied in the wake of the Nirbhaya case in 2012 is also being used to blackmail and defame men.

The film boasts of top notch performances from not only Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chaddha but also judges Krutika Desai and Kishor Kadam. Meera Chopra has hardly any dialogues to mouth but scores with her expressions whereas Rahul Bhat fails to show varied emotions. Even while disturbing you with the loopholes of the law, the film sets out to make you think with its very unique approach.

Ajay Bahl, who had directed the gripping and controversial B A Pass earlier stuns us with his court room which makes you sit on the edge of your eat while Manish Gupta who had earlier written masterpieces like Sarkar and Rahasya scores with his screenplay and dialogues.

On the whole, at a time when you get to see only potboilers mostly, a film like Section 375 sets out to shock you with its straight and realistic approach to filmmaking and is a pleasure to watch and imbibe

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Movie Review, Section 375,  Akshaye Khanna, Richha Chaddha, Meera Chopra, Rahul Bhatt, Sandhya Mridul , Kishor Kadam, Krutika Desai