Anubhav Sinha's 'ASSI' Movie Review: Kani Kusruti shines, Taapsee Pannu tries in an intense courtroom drama about rape

Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Kani Kusruti, Revathy, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Naseeruddin Shah, Supriya Pathak, Seema Pahwa

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Language: Hindi

There are films that people think ought to be lauded for what they are attempting to say. But there’s a difference between what you are saying and how you are saying. Anubhav Sinha’s Assi is walking on that very tightrope. Sinha is an intriguing filmmaker. He made a heartfelt drama as his first- Tum Bin. He completes 25 years in Hindi cinema this year. In between, he attempted those cash-grabbing potboilers- Dus, Cash, Ra.One. Mulk could be called his 2.0, followed by Thappad and Article 15. But post Anek, is there an overdose of his socio-political commentaries? Is it time he went back and made at least one cash grabbing brain rot? Does he still have it in him to seduce us into a world where anything goes and the fictional characters are having a ball? Or staging thunderous songs like Dus Bahane and Chammak Chalo possessing the kind of kinetic energy and kitsch we no longer see?

Also, sometimes I feel if a filmmaker should try working with somebody else. Vishal Bhardwaj brought out the best and badass in Shahid Kapoor with Kaminey and Haider. Rangoon paled in comparison, and O’Romeo also hasn’t been able to jolt the viewers the way it promised to. Anubhav Sinha comes next in the list. Apart from Manoj Pahwa, an actor he has been working with ever since he began his career, most of the other people in his movies are now trying to find their feet. It unfortunately happens in a film as urgent and breathless as Assi. It has Taapsee Pannu reuniting with the filmmaker after Mulk, and Kumud Mishra, the scene stealing cop of Article 15. But the robust performers largely remain dour. One could argue Mishra’s past haunting him throughout the solemn narrative. And maybe Sinha has chosen minimalism over clamour.

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_Assi_ is a film that’s purposely lying low key. The makers aren’t making any noise about what the film is about. It grapples with a grave theme that ought not to be promoted the way Bollywood films are promoted. One can’t expect the cast to laugh on limping quips on a comedy show or tell Salman Khan they are hardcore fans of Bigg Boss. Sinha wishes the audiences discover the film on their own. And know the brutal reality of a nation on the brink. Assi does it right in the beginning what others save for the finale- A statistical analysis of how rapes continue to horrify women and India. This is not the story of just one woman (A lingering Kani Kusruti, the breakout performer of _All We Imagine As Light_). There’s no light for her in this world she has been thrown into. It’s as dark as a dungeon. We are told time and again there are 80 rapes happening everyday. And unfortunately, she becomes one of the victims too.

To give credit where it needs to, Sinha as a filmmaker does a fine job of filming this scene with both aesthetic nuance and alarming tensity. There’s Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays a dual role of a father and a husband. When he first sees his wife in the hospital bed, almost comatose and disfigured, he flashes a smile to his son telling him his mumma is sleeping. He doesn’t breakdown even once despite life being….life. Ayyub’s an impressively restrained and subdued turn which makes the film little different from the other titles dabbling with similar themes. Pannu’s now a refined actor, and this is her return to the courtroom after Mulk, Pink, Rashmi Rocket. But among the ensemble, hers sticks out like a sore thumb. Again, it could be because we have seen Pannu and Sinha work on a far more rousing courtroom drama, that of 2018.

There’s one moment where Pannu scores. She’s recording a video on her phone and delivering a sermon about rape, murders, and justice. She’s interrupted by her arch rival who’s only passing by in her office. She cracks a faint smile and then continues. It’s a redux of that classic scene from Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Poor Nawazuddin Siddiqui!

_Assi_ is 133 minutes long. But at times, it feels Sinha rushes through the turmoil, not allowing the audience to immerse themselves into the traumas of both the victims and the vultures. When the cover is finally blown, Manoj Pahwa (who’s having a blast off late) threatens to gun his son down. The son breaks down but before he can howl, we move on.

Some scenes last only for a few seconds, most of them featuring an anorexic Kumud Mishra. There’s an odd twist to his character that’s revealed way early than it should have. This could have been a taut thriller and a tense courtroom drama. But it stops short on both the counts. The one actor who carries the bruised moniker on her shoulders and attempts to make it reach the finish line is Kani.

She’s wonderfully affectionate even after being mauled by a bunch of monsters. And these perpetrators also get their fair share of attention, sometimes sprinkled with humour. Sinha kind of ensures this is no partisan filmmaking (à la Section 375). And he extracts a tearful performance from the star of the show. Kani never once bellows. And commands the camera with her bruises and balls. Assi needed more balls and badassery. It needed to be more meticulously executed. And and and more crucially; it feels Anubhav Sinha genuinely needs to explore more actors for his ensembles. Making history with the same people may not be viable every time.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Assi releases in cinemas on February 20