Article 15 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film [2] directed by Anubhav Sinha and

produced jointly by Zee Studios and Benaras Media Works.[5] Written by Gaurav
Solanki and Anubhav Sinha, it stars Ayushmann Khurrana, Isha Talwar, Sayani Gupta, Kumud
Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Veen and Sumbul Touqeer.
The film is based on Article 15 of the Indian Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on
grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.[6] While not based on one specific event, the
film is inspired by multiple true life events including 2014 Badaun gang rape allegations and 2016
Una flogging incident.[7][8] Filming began on 1 March 2019 in Lucknow.[9] The film follows a police
investigation that commences after three teenage girls go missing from a small village.
It was selected as the opening film for the 10th edition of London Indian Film Festival to be
premiered on 20 June.[10][11] Article 15 was theatrically released in India on 28 June 2019 and
received critically acclaimed reviews from critics.[12] It has grossed over ₹914
million(US$13 million) against a budget of ₹300 million (US$4.3 million) to emerge as a
commercial success.

Contents

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
 4Filming
 5Marketing and release
 6Reception
o 6.1Critical response
o 6.2Box office
 7Soundtrack
 8References
 9External links

Plot[edit]
The film begins with a group of villagers in Laalgaon engaged in a song while three Dalit girls are
trapped in a school bus and are raped by a few men. Ayan Ranjan (Ayushmann Khurrana), a St.
Stephens College graduate and an Indian Police Service officer, is recently posted to Laalgaon
as the deputy-Chief of district police and is warmly welcomed by officers Bhramadatt Singh
(Manoj Pahwa) and Jatav (Kumud Mishra). He is introduced to the caste discrimination the
village faces when he stops to buy a bottle of water from a local shop to which an officer tells him
that they are not allowed to have their water as the shop belongs to people belonging to a lower
caste. He faces a similar situation at his welcome party where he is given a fresh plate to eat
while trying to eat from Jatav's plate. The very next day, it is shown that the two girls who were
raped in the bus have been hanged from a tree, while the third girl Pooja is still missing. During
the post-mortem examination of the bodies, Dr. Malti Ram (Ronjini Chakraborty) finds out that
the girls were gang raped, but is coaxed by Bhramadutt to not only delay the report but also to
write that the girls were murdered and not raped so that the case becomes that of honour killing.
Meanwhile, Jatav and his men are threatened and their jeep burned by Nishaad's (a
revolutionary) gang in order to get speedy justice. On seeing this, Ayan realises the gravity of the
situation and decides to dig deeper in this case until the victims gets justice. On the other hand,
Bhramadutt is trying to close the case at the earliest and persuades Ayan to do so as well on the
pretext that the case is false. It is only when Gaura (Sayani Gupta), a relative of the girls informs
him that they used to work for a local builder named Anshu Naharia and had recently asked for
an increase in their salary by just Rs. 3 that the investigation gets more serious. Ayan decides to
call Anshu for inquiry even though Bhramadutt persuades him not to do so. During interrogation
Anshul says that the girls were punished so that the entire caste would be reminded of their
status. On asking them about their status, he replies, "Their status is what we give them". This
deeply disturbs Ayan as he gets to see the loopholes behind the political system. He promptly
decides to "un-mess" the mess and the very next morning, he puts the Article 15 of the Indian
Constitution on the billboard as a reminder to all the police officers to first and foremost be
Indians and that any kind of caste discrimination is a criminal offence. What happens next forms
the crux of the story.

Cast[edit]
 Ayushmann Khurrana as IPS officer Ayan Ranjan
 Isha Talwar as Aditi
 Sayani Gupta as Gaura
 Kumud Mishra as Jatav
 Manoj Pahwa as Bhramadatt
 Nassar as Panikar, CBI
 Ronjini Chakraborty as Dr. Malti Ram
 Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Nishad
 Veen as Anshu Naharia
 Ashish Verma as Mayank
 Sushil Pandey as Nihal Singh
 Akash Dabhade as Satyendra
 Shubrajyoti Bharat as Chandrabhan
 Sumbul Touqeer as Amali

Production[edit]
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.[13] Giving details on Article 15 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."[6]

Filming[edit]
The filming started on 1 March 2019 in Lucknow.[9][14] During filming on 14 March 2019, Khurrana
the leading star of the film, and the team entered into swamp filled with leeches to shoot scenes
of the film. He shared picture of the team on twitter.[15] The shooting of the film was completed in
the first half of April 2019.[16]

Marketing and release[edit]

The lead actor of the film Ayushmann Khurrana shared the first look of the film on twitter on 6
March 2019.[17] First look poster of Khurrana in the film was released on 27 May 2019. It also
bears the release date of the film.[18] The poster have tag line at top that reads as, "Farq bahut kar
liya, ab farq laayenge" (Enough of the differentiations, it is time to bring about a
difference.)[19] Later the same day the teaser of the film was released on YouTube by Zee Music
Company.[20] The teaser got 8.3 million views since its release.[21] The official trailer of the film was
released on 30 May by Zee Music Company.[22] The trailer of Article 15 was attached with Salman
Khan's starrer film Bharat.[23]
The teaser of the song "Shuru Karein Kya" was released on 7 June.[24][25] The video of song was
released on 11 June.[26] The jukebox was released on 14 June.[27]
Article 15 has been selected as opening film for the 10th edition of London Indian Film Festival to
be premiered on 20 June.[11] It was released in India on 28 June 2019.[1]

Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 89% based on
eighteen reviews, with an average rating of 7.56/10.[28] Article 15 generally received critically
acclaimed reviews from critics.[12]
Article 15 Story: A young IPS officer's new posting in rural India has him confronting caste
disparities and uncomfortable truths in the face of a gruesome crime. When three girls go
missing in the fictional village of Lalgaon, two of them are found dead and there is no trace of the
third one. So, we can say that Ayushmann Khurrana starrer is a must watchable movie which
shows the light burning social issues of rural society. The film will all set to hit the theatres on
June 28, 2019.
Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost concurred with Sengupta and Sharma, gave 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..."[29] Raja Sen writing for Hindustan
Times rated the film with 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'."[30] Vijayalakshmi Narayanan of Radio City gave the film
, 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."[31]
Sreeparna Sengupta of The Times of India gave the film , praising 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 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.[32] Devesh Sharma reviewing for Filmfare rates the film with
. He praised screenplay, dialogues and cinematography of the film apart from
performance of Khurrana and 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 the 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...'[33] Priyanka Sinha Jha of CNN-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 . 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 knack of combining elements of popular film-making with
realistic story-telling to give masterful films.[34] 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."
He rates it with .[35]
Mayur Sanap of Deccan Chronicle rated it and finds it a 'gripping social thriller'. He
commended the performances and script, and concludes, "With Anubhav Sinha's straightforward
and unflashy directorial style, the film proves to be an effective drama. It may be devoid of
spectacle, but it is still full of zeal and warrants a must watch."[36] Manjusha Radhakrishnan
of Gulf News gave , and felt that the film was not easy to watch, however everyone
should give it a chance. She opined, "Article 15 sobers you up instantly, but it also makes you
think about Indian’s complicated social segregation based on accident of birth."[37] Lakshana N
Palat of India Today rated it with , praised the performances of cast and felt that the
film's 'overtly optimistic ending' was not in tune. According to him, despite rough around the
edges and flawed in storytelling, it is worth watching. Agreeing with Sengupta, he opines, "It's a
start. It cannot change society but it at least can initiate a conversation and debate that examines
the horrors that lurk in this very society, invisible to our privileged eyes."[38] Bollywood
Hungama rated the film and praised Mulligan for cinematography, Nikhil Kovale for
production design, Sinha and Solanki for story and screenplay. He commended performances of
ensemble and direction of Sinha and felt that the look of the film was 'quite rich' and 'haunting'
and that worked. He sumed up the review as, "On the whole, ARTICLE 15 is a hard-hitting film
that raises some important issues related to caste, that are plaguing the country."[39] Kunal Guha
of Mumbai Mirror rated the film with and felt that it reminded of hateful atrocities, and
wrote, "The film, however, gets a bit tiring in parts when the message seems to be incessantly
hammered down." However, he praised the performances of ensemble.[40] Baradwaj Rangan of
Film Companion wrote, "If Article 15 seems a lesser film than Mulk, it’s because it wants to be a
muted melodrama, and that’s a bit of a contradiction. It’s more “Western” in style, and some of
the more “Indian” flourishes end up looking odd."[41]

Box office[edit]
Article 15 had the opening day collection of ₹5.02 crore and opening weekend worldwide gross
of ₹30.75 crore. In the opening week the film grossed ₹47.62 crore worldwide. With gross of
77.62 crore from India and 13.78 crore from overseas, as of 31 July 2019, the film has
grossed ₹91.40 crore worldwide.[4][42]