The price of 3 rupees.

Somewhere in U.P, an entire group of child labourers belonging to a lower caste work on the stretch of road. 2 of those labourers request the foreman to increase their wages from Rs 25 to Rs 28, that is, by 3 rupees. For that simple request, the two of them are gang-raped repeatedly for 2-3 days, and then hung alive from the branches of a tree. And the astounding fact? They were barely 15-16 years old and their murder was written off and propagated as an honour killing.

Such is the grim premise in which actor Ayushman Khurrana’s (AK’s) latest movie, Article 15 is based. Barely 2 days after the above incident, we see AK assume his post as Additional commissioner of a fictitious village, Laalgaon, the epicentre of the crime and also the movie.

The very next day, he sets out to investigate the crime when he hears of it. He goes to the scene and is very (naturally) disturbed and horrified at what he sees. Also, the beliefs of the people there which pertain very strongly to the cast divide, move him so much that he feels compelled to tell his wife Aditi that the whole place gives off a “Wild, Wild West” vibe, along with a ‘Bollywood 1980s’ atmosphere.

This is followed by a meeting with the local tough, Anshu Niharia, a contractor by profession, who leaves a veil of danger around AK, (playing Ayan Ranjan in the film) threatening to drop the investigation.

This only strengthens his resolve to pursue the investigation of the crime and bring it to a successful conclusion.

Thus commences his investigation, which involves a medical investigation, a lot of frustrating attempts to break the stalemates that develop, and a lot of threats hanging around AK and the few officers committed to solving the case with him.

For the people who are not cops, and are still involved with the case, such as the villagers which the two murdered and raped girls belong to, an activist who is deemed a national security threat for protesting against injustice, etc, there is no small amount of danger involved, as they live under the mercy of those above them, above them in caste and also in social standing, power, status etc.

Indeed, such is the way of life and such are the circumstances in which they live that the activist remarks, “Here, along with other castes, power too has its own creed and caste”.

And whenever such a crime takes place, it the fathers of the girls who are coerced into falsely confessing to having killed their daughters in the name of honour, in lieu of the truth, for despite the values of equality, anti-discrimination, etc propagated by Article 15 of the Indian Constitution, the caste which the villagers, the murdered and raped girls belong to, is treated as a minority unless election season is upon them, a fact which the national activist states in no uncertain terms.

The film also takes into account the mindset of AK as he grapples with the case, which is prominent in his conversations with his wife, Aditi, an activist for gender equality herself, and it also nicely rubs the message in with its lighting, which is either early morning lighting (yellowish-grey overtones) or somewhat towards the night (black, inky black, purple) etc and its background scores and sound effects. The cinematography is well executed, with use of Over-The-Shoulder shots, Dutch angles, close ups, wide angles etc which add depth to the film and accentuate the scenes.

All of the above nuances, coupled with the flawless execution of all of the actors’ respective characters effortlessly coalesce to create a thriller-like effect and give us, the audience, a thriller, which is a real, nitty-gritty cop drama, which isn’t afraid to get down and dirty and poke its finger in the mud when necessary to clean out the murk.

Therefore, don’t miss out and book tickets at your nearest theatres to catch Additional Commissioner Ayan Ranjan (Ayushman Khurrana) in action.  

Jai Hind!