Article 15: Fill & Download for Free

I had been extremely curious to watch this movie ever since the trailer was launched on 27th May 2019 (I am a Brahmin). Apart from the fact that it was touching such a brave and sensitive topic (yes a Vatsa gotra Brahmin) the trailer had depicted such an amazing cinematography, with real rural locations to provide authenticity (just clarifying, a pure vegan Brahmin) that it was too difficult to, not watch it (Did I mention, that I am a Brahmin?)Did the above paragraph sound irritating? So did the prejudiced opinions that came swarming in with the trailer. But if you would like to believe me, there is nothing even remotely biased against any specific community in the movie.Yes there are a bunch of casteist comments and insults, but they have been used for almost all the castes that the various characters in the film come from.The movie is blunt, Yes! But biased? Hell No!!It starts off with depicting an outsider’s perspective. Ayan Ranjan, who is newly inducted as an IPS officer to a rural area where caste discrimination is deeply ingrained, not just limited to the four broad castes we know of, but even the sub-castes and further sub-categories.Three teenage girls go missing and corpses of two are later found hanging from a tree. Hence begins the investigation of trying to find the culprits, while also trying to track down the third girl.Parallel to the investigation, director Anubhav Sinha takes us on a journey of talks, jokes, and even mishaps that the urban crowd is hardly aware of, but is an everyday affair for a major part of rural India.The narration is that of a thriller, unfolding mysteries one after the other. However the caste bias message is very cleverly weaved into the plot without making it a loud preach. The books on Indian constitution make appearance as Ayan’s baggage, metaphorically suggesting his bookish knowledge over practicality, and the film’s title element, the Article 15, doesn’t make an appearance until the interval.Most of the scenes take place at dawn or dusk while some at night, giving a quaint sense of fear to the viewer about the unpredictability of the situations.Ayushmann plays the protagonist and most of movie rests on his shoulders. He looks nothing like the cops we have been seeing in the usual Bollywood flicks. No heroic acts, no stunts, he doesn’t even fire a gun in the entire movie. An alien at his first posting, he projects the right amount of vulnerability, even sharing his insecurities with his love interest about how he misses seeing a sparkle in her eyes of pride and love, which he noticed between a different couple. Though the character is unbelievably righteous, yet he shows fear of repercussions he may face and the transition from the vulnerability to the determination at the end is very very believable.Brownie points for having an excellent ensemble of artists like Sayani Gupta, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Nassar, Md. Zeeshan Ayub, Ronjini Chakraborty and many others, each character from a different caste background, who depict their own traits, that keep interacting (read clashing) with each other. Pahwa plays a practical yet despicable Brahmadatt Singh who constantly exercises an entitled behaviour on Jatav, played by Kumud Mishra, who, on the other hand is dealing with conflicted intentions due to the palpable fear of losing to the cycle of his family’s sweeping job that he has broken by joining the police.The attention is also very convincingly drawn to the denial that we live in when most of the menial jobs in our everyday lives like scavenging, garbage disposal, milk or newspaper delivery are taken care of by the “those people”. Caste-divide is seen as a boon for normalcy which maintains the santulan (balance) of the society.A political strike led by Nishad (Zeeshan Ayub) asking all odd-job workers to stop working till they get rights and recognition starts as a very promising track but sadly remains half-baked. So does Zeeshan's character. I would have loved to see more of him.The film doesn’t squeeze in any romantic songs. The only one from the soundtrack that’s in the movie is Kahab to lag jaai dhak se (If I say, it will hit you hard) which is in one of the introductory scenes. However the background score and editing is as good as it can get.Political angles are introduced, which seemed a bit unnecessary to me. However do watch out for a pre-climax scene where the entire police unit jokes about the parties each one voted for, addressing them as symbols like flower, cycle, candle, elephant or a palm.To sum it up, the movie does a pretty good job in getting a well-intentioned message out while also entertaining you as a thriller. The Censor Board also seems to have edited a lot of gore which had some glimpses in the trailer to justify a UA certificate. Please go watch it if you want to have an appetite for meaningful cinema with a gut to digest the truth!!Image source: Article 15 trailer

Ehm, have you read Article 15?Clause 3 of the article reads thus:[1][1][1][1]Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.There you go. Provisions for women are explicitly exempted.Footnotes[1] Constitution of India/Part III[1] Constitution of India/Part III[1] Constitution of India/Part III[1] Constitution of India/Part III

I had a kid stand up and say, “Fuck this and fuck you.”My response was, “Really?” He just stood there for a minute.I said, “Soldier, you have reached a turning point in your life. You can either get your shit together, or I will have an Article 15 ready for you before chow and extra duty and a thin paycheck will be your last official events in uniform. Now, you look like you're feeling froggy. If you decide to jump, you will get that Article 15 on top of an ass kicking of epic proportions. Keep in mind, I can issue it myself, but there are seven other Drill Sergeants, First Sergeant and a Captain all watching you, hoping deep down that you're feeling strong so that we have a justification to take out a lot of pent up frustration on a little bitch who asked for it. Your call.”He chose getting his shit together. I smoked him in the pit for about an hour that evening while the rest of the platoon enjoyed an ice cold Coca-Cola courtesy of their kind and benevolent DS McKay.