Article-15: The Film Shakes You to the Core
कहब तोह लगी जाई धक् से.....
बड़े बड़े लोगन के हलुवा पराठा , और mineral water अलग से
हमरे गरीबन के चटनी और रोटी , पानी पिए बालू वाला नल से
I had heard Mr. Shankar Singh and his group singing this song in a
public meeting where they were representing people’s movement for the Right to
Information. The song than was adopted by many groups representing people’s
movement across the country. You see the same song being sung by a group of
people standing under a dripping roof in a rainy night when the titles of the
film – Article-15 start rolling. Simultaneously, you see a bus in which two
young girls are getting brutalized. The audience gets a clear indication in the
first five minutes that the film is about deep rooted disparity that continue
to exist in our country despite article 15 of the Indian constitution that
promises right equality - no discrimination on the ground of caste, religion
language, sex.
In the next scene, the
protagonist, a young IPS officer - Mr. Ayaan Ranjan - (Played by Ayushmann Khurana)
is travelling in a car to take charge of his first posting at Lalgarh in rural
UP. The famous song by Bob Dylan
“blowing in the wind” plays in the background. That was supposed to be a
protest song of 1960s that questioned war and
peace. “How many roads a must a man walk down before you call him a
man….” goes the song in the background as Ayaan’s car progresses in deeper in
the rural landscape. Happy and excited Ayaan messages his girl friend telling
her how happy he was for being posted in rural area where there are pastures
green and air is fresh - the romantic idea about rural India.
The romanticism of Ayaan
does not last long. The very first day of his job brings him a case of missing
three Dalit girls, whose fathers want to lodge a complaint, but his police men
were trying to dispose of the case without writing a complaint. The next day
villagers found dead bodies of two of the missing girls hanging on a tree. And
the story of stinking castism and gruesome discrimination unfolds. Dalits are
referred as ‘Vo Log’ (those people), as if they are some aliens. No sympathy
for the worried parents of the missing girls. Rather the police implicates
father of the deceased girls for honor killing. Compliance of police and
politicians takes no time in making its presence felt. Attempts are made to manipulate forensic
report. The doctor is thrashed. The stage is set to acquit the guilty. The
incident is loosely adapted from Badayun rape case of 2014.
The story is told from the
perspective of an educated urban Brahmin young man, who is armed with western education. He pastes a copy of the
Article-15 of the Indian constitution on the notice board for everyone to read
and understand what it means. He seeks for a solution within the system without waiting for a hero to come to solve the problem. That is the USP of the film. This thriller appeals larger
audience because they empathize with the protagonist. His disillusions become
their own. They are forced to come out of the protected cocoon of privileged
class, come out of mode of denial of abominable worldly reality where manual
scavenging continue to be a practice. The scene where a sanitation worker
emerges from a manhole, completely submerged in dark black smelly water, hits
the audience hard. The reality, to which the caste people do not pay attention at
all, is doing naked dance in front of our eyes. Do we even care to know that more people die while cleaning gutter every year than the number of soldiers we
lose on border? Hopefully, if not all, but a few from the audience will feel
pain of the sanitation workers, dying inside the manhole while trying to keep
our habitation clean.
Director Anubhav Sinha
successfully weaves present day incidences of violence against Dalit. Today, in
the 21st century and after seven decades of independence, Dalit
women are being raped for raising their voice for their basic rights. Dalit man
is killed for daring to ride a horse on his wedding day, because that is supposed
to be an upper cast prerogative. Dalit men are bitten publicly for disposing of
a carcass of a cow nobody from the public utters a word. These are a few of the incidences that are reported in news papers. There are many more that are not even reported, not talking
about the constant subtle subjugation that has become a way of life. How can we forget the widespread hypocritical compassion exhibited by feeding any stray dogs, but care a damn when it comes to life and death of a living human being????
When there is subjugation, there
is a voice for rights. You may call him a rebel. In a film like Article -15,
there has to be a character that teaches to rise for rights. Anubhav Sinha
creates a character of Nishad, played by Zeeshan Ayub who is constantly present
in the narratives despite very little screen presence. He is in their songs, in
their sorrows, in their protest and strikes and a spirit to fight. Nishad who
is portrayed as a very bright student is turned a rebellious young leader
because the society does not allow him to rise above his caste identity - the
hard fact of the society that urbanized upper caste people never understand.
The pain of constant direct and subtle humiliation in every walk of life is
beyond imagination of any upper caste person unless they try to put their foot
in shoe of a Dalit. Nishad reminds you of Rohit Vemulla, who aspired to be a
science writer, but was frustrated as he was constantly reminded of his caste
identity. Nishad reminds you of Chadrashekhar Azad (The present day Dalit youth leader, and not the freedom fighter) who is often required to
remain underground for speaking his mind and mobilizing Dalit to fight for
their rights. Nishad also reminds you of Jignesh Mewani, who called sanitation workers to go on strike to allow the town to be taken over by smelly sewage and stinky
garbage, in order to make people realize importance of the sanitation workers. Nishad is not an imaginary character. He is real. He is representing a
voice of new age Dalit youth, who is armed with modern education, has
aspiration of modern times and has fire in his heart that is not allowing him
to tolerate injustice. But of course, he is marginalized. His questions against the system are disturbing. The people in power fear that he might disturb the balance. He is a character that everyone may love on screen although, in real life not only will treat as ‘NAXAL’ but will also legitimize his killing in police
encounter.
Ayaan’s girl friend - Aditi is a writer, who writes about human right
issues in news paper. She is not only Ayaan’s source of inspiration but also a
source of ideological correctedness of his action. “If all become equal than
who will rule?” ( sab barabar hojayenge to fir raj kaun karega?) is the
question Ayaan encounters from his colleagues. He forwards the same question to Aditi and pop
comes the answer – “ why do we want a King to rule?” (raja chahiye hi kyu?).
Whether it is the politics of front line news, difference in coverage received
by the Delhi rape case versus the Badayun rape case, Aditi’s comments give a perspective that is
required to understand caste/ class biases prevalent in the society. Though her
screen presence is very minimal, it is through her character the story of the
film frames a political perspective.
It is a shame on the society
that has failed to eradicate inhuman caste system even after attaining status of
one of the fastest growing economy. Our votes to any political party have
no relevance – be it lotus or palm or elephant or cycle. Sometime they become Harijan, sometime Bahujan but they are never become ‘JAN’ (Human). These dialogues show us mirror.
Good research, rightly placed sensitivity and correct political perspective that are accomplished by brilliant performances by
all actors, sharp one liners, very effective camera work and complementing
music, make Article-15 a landmark film in Hindi cinema.
It is good that the
protagonist of the film is a westernized modern Brahmin. He is not a revolutionary. He
represent a majority of vocal urban population, who like to believe that
caste/class/religion based discrimination are matter of past and exist only in
the history books. If the protagonist would have been a Dalit youth, the
required revolutionary spirit would have labeled the director as Urban Naxal. The film successfully hits the dart. It is a film that every Indian must watch.
