Article 15

Plot

Ayan Ranjan, an idealistic Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and St. Stephen's College graduate, is assigned to the rural village of Laalgaon in Uttar Pradesh as the Additional Superintendent of Police. Upon arrival, he is welcomed by local officers Brahmadatt Singh and Kisan Jatav. Ayan immediately encounters deep-rooted caste discrimination, which he routinely discusses over the phone with his wife, Aditi. During his welcoming reception, local villagers plead with the police to find three missing Dalit girls, but their requests are dismissed. At the same gathering, Ayan notices his college friend, Satyendra Rai, a state government employee, behaving suspiciously.

The next morning, two of the missing girls are discovered hanging from a tree, while the third, Pooja, remains missing. Ayan orders Brahmadatt to file a First Information Report (FIR) and secure a postmortem analysis. Although the autopsy reveals the victims were repeatedly gang-raped before being murdered, Brahmadatt suppresses the findings. Instead, he fabricates a narrative claiming the girls were cousin-lovers in an incestuous relationship who were victims of an honor killing by their own fathers. Meanwhile, tensions escalate as activists from the Bhim Sangharsh Sena (BSS), led by a man named Nishad, clash with local authorities to demand immediate justice. Deeply disturbed by the cover-up, Ayan commits himself to solving the case.

Gaura, Pooja's sister, informs Ayan that the girls worked for a local builder, Anshu Naharia, who had assaulted them after they demanded a wage increase of three rupees. Despite Brahmadatt's warnings that Anshu is related to influential Minister Ramlal Naharia, Ayan brings him in for questioning. Anshu callously admits to the assault, stating it was meant to remind the girls' caste of their societal standing. Disgusted by the systemic bigotry within the community and his own police force, Ayan prints and posts Article 15 of the Constitution of India—which prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth—on the station bulletin board.

Seeking the truth, Ayan meets with Dr. Malti Ram, the assistant coroner who conducted the autopsies. She confirms that the official report was falsified and that the victims were indeed raped and murdered. Realizing his department is actively conspiring with the politicians, Ayan instructs Malti to secretly take the DNA samples to Lucknow for independent testing against Anshu's DNA. Simultaneously, a local Brahmin politician, Mahantji, stages a public display of inter-caste harmony with a Dalit community leader to secure votes for the upcoming election. Nishad exposes this alliance as a political sham and organizes a protest. Ayan attempts to negotiate with Nishad to call off the strike so police resources can focus on locating Pooja; Nishad refuses to back down but allows a few of his men to assist in the search.

Production

Development

The storyline of the film is based on the socio-political situation of the country, post-independence time drawing inferences from true-life events researched over the last 6 months, akin to Mulk. Giving details on the film, Anubhav Sinha stated that "this film is an investigative drama where the audience too is an accused party ... A very challenging film that needed an extraordinary actor like Ayushmann."

Filming

Principal photography began on 1 March 2019 in Lucknow. During filming, Ayushmann Khurrana and the team entered into a swamp filled with leeches to shoot scenes of the film. Filming was concluded in April 2019.

Release

Theatrical

Article 15 had been selected as the opening film for the 10th edition of London Indian Film Festival to be premiered on 20 June. It was released in India on 28 June 2019.

Home media

It was made available for streaming on Netflix.

Reception

Critical response

Article 15 received critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 90% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10.

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost concurred with Sengupta and Sharma, gave four and a half stars out of five and found 'Sinha's unfaltering direction' was backed by Ewan Mulligan's 'unsparing cinematography' and a 'strong cast'. Concluding, she wrote, "Watching this film is an overwhelming emotional experience," and she opined, Article 15 is the best that Indian cinema can be in these troubled times if it chooses to hold a mirror up to our society..." Raja Sen writing for Hindustan Times rated the film with four and a half star out of five and opined that the film is a tribute to Alan Parker the director of 1988 film Mississippi Burning. He praised Solanki and Sinha for honest writing, haunting shots by Mulligan and performances of ensemble. Ending his writing, he said, "Article 15 is not a film in search of easy answers. Instead, it is a reminder that we already know the questions but don't ask them enough. 'Not cool, sir'." Vijayalakshmi Narayanan of Radio City gave the film four and a half stars out of five, and said "Coming to the cast, Ayushmann leads from the front and one cannot be thankful enough. The actor proves his mettle yet again when it comes to backing good scripts. He makes the right noise even in his moments of melancholy."

Sreeparna Sengupta of The Times of India gave the film four stars out of five, praising the performance of Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and background music and cinematography of Ewan Mulligan as well. She felt that Sinha had given another dimension to the narrative by surfacing the artful shades through the characters and setting. She opines, "Anubhav Sinha's Article 15 is designed like a crime thriller. What works for the film is that it's thought-provoking, hard-hitting while unflinchingly bringing to light burning social issues." Concluding, she wrote that the film is not a 'light watch', rather it is 'definitely relevant', 'compelling' and will start a debate. Devesh Sharma reviewing for Filmfare rates the film with four stars out of five. He praised the screenplay, dialogues, and cinematography of the film apart from the performance of Khurrana and the supporting cast. He recommends watching the film for its 'riveting performances' and its 'underlying message', and opines that the film presents the candid truth about contemporary society. Quoting Jack Nicholson's character from A Few Good Men – "You can't handle the truth," he hopes that the audience goes out to watch the film and 'learns to handle the truth...' Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18, praising Khurrana and ensemble of Kumud Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and M Nassar for their performances, rates the film with four stars out of five. Agreeing with Vetticad, she writes, "Article 15 is remarkable in that it does not pontificate. It merely holds up the mirror to a society still entangled in age-old caste politics that absolutely overrides the modern ideals of liberty and equality." Concluding, she opines that Sinha has a knack for combining elements of popular film-making with realistic story-telling to give masterful films. Writing for the NDTV Saibal Chatterjee, termed it a 'radical' film, tackling social issues. He praised Sinha and Gaurav Solanki for the screenplay and cast for effective performances. He concludes the review as, "[The film] remains true to the demands of the plot without losing control over its principal purpose – administering a bitter pill with just a hint of a sugar coating. It works wonderfully well. Article 15 is a not to be missed film." Harish Wankhede in the Indian Express review praised the film for its nuanced depiction of Dalit characters but also criticised the film for not showcasing the Dalit person as a protagonist.

Box office

Article 15 had the opening day collection of ₹5.02 crore and opening weekend worldwide gross of ₹30.75 crore. In its opening week, the film grossed ₹47.62 crore worldwide. With a gross of ₹77.62 crore from India and ₹13.78 crore from overseas, as of 31 July 2019, the film has grossed ₹91.70 crore worldwide.

Remake

In May 2020, it was announced that Arunraja Kamaraj would be directing Nenjuku Needhi, the Tamil remake of the film. Udhayanidhi Stalin was roped in to reprise Khurrana's role while Tanya Ravichandran reprised the role done by Isha Talwar. It was released on 20 May 2022.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Anurag Saikia, Piyush Shankar, Devin Parker, and Gingger while lyrics are written by Rashmi Virag, Shakeel Azmi, Slow Cheeta, Dee MC, Kaam Bhaari, and Spit Fire. The Times of India based Debarati S Sen, in her review, said the album is "a fine example of original songs finding its way back into the Hindi film industry".

Home media

The film became available as VOD on Netflix in August 2019.