Director Anubhav Sinha’s latest crusade has the right intentions. The society’s attitude towards sexual assault victims coupled with corruption in legal systems. The first half moves along smoothly but the second half is bloated with the angle of vigilante justice. Also, the track of opposition lawyer feels like a recycled version of Pink. Strong performances led by Kani Kusruti keeps the movie afloat
Starcast: Kani Kusruti, Taapsee Pannu, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Kumud Mishra and others
Genre: Drama
Director, writer and producer: Anubhav Sinha
Additional writer: Gaurav Solanki
Additional Producers: Bhushan Kumar and Krishna Kumar
Production Companies: Beneras Media Works and T Series Films
Cinematography: Ewan Mulligan
Running time: 2 hours and 14 minutes
Anubhav Sinha’s filmography from romance, action and now social dramas has an interesting trajectory. Right since 2018’s Mulk Anubhav Sinha has consistently chosen hard hitting subjects. Both Mulk and Article 15 were solid films, but a certain jadedness has crept into the director’s recent work barring the web show IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. Assi is another example of how Anubhav Sinha needs to reinvent his social drama format.
The storyline of Assi mainly focuses on the sexual assault of Kani Kusruti’s Parima. This happens when she is coming back from a school celebration. Taapsee Pannu plays advocate Raavi. She stands up for Parima in spite of a long ordeal fighting desperately to give justice. However, the road ahead is very difficult given the loopholes of legal system. This is the story in brief.
A strong aspect of Assi is definitely the actors. Kani Kusruti as the rape survivor particularly stands out: Parima’s gradual recovery both physical and mental has been well portrayed by the actor. There is a strong fighting spirit in spite of everything and Kani Kusruti brings that out well. She particularly shines in a courtroom scene when giving it back to the opposition lawyer. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as the supportive husband plays with his part with understated strength. The way he stands with her more through actions than words is a delight to watch.
Taapsee Pannu brings out Raav ‘s anguish well but is somewhat let down by the melodramatic dialogues. This holds especially true of the pre climax stretch. Kumud Mishra as Karthik plays a character dealing with his own trauma. Not much can be revealed about his track, but the senior actor does a good job in portraying Karthik’s inner turmoil. His conversations with Naseerudin Shah has some hard-hitting dialogues.
Revathy as the judge lends dignity. Her expressions of exasperation in particular has understated moments of humor. A special mention must also be made of Manoj Pahwa. He plays the father to one of the boys. His son doesn’t assault Parima but he is also responsible for the rape as he doesn’t actively do anything to stop his friend. As a guilt-ridden father fighting for his son Manoj Pahwa does an excellent job in pulling off the dual shades.
A major problem Aasi is the second half especially the track of vigilantism. The frenzy of social media in supporting a vigilante by the name of Umbrella Man has moments of relevance but the overall integration is very clumsy. It doesn’t add much to the narrative since the case is won through the legal system even though the process is lengthy.
Some scenes also border on too much of melodrama, and this holds true of Taapsee’s speech. It comes across as a more of a moral sermon on the lines of self-defeating rather than packing a punch. The inclusion of school children in this sequence also comes across as insensitive. The role of Satyajit Sharma as the opposition lawyer doesn’t help the matters either. His line of questioning feels like a rehash of Piyush Mishra from Pink. Finally, the statistics of rape on numerous occasions feels more of a shock value than adding something cohesive.
Final word: Assi is a perfect example of how noble intentions alone cannot make for a compelling movie.