Stars :Deeksha Joshi, Vivek Kumar, Denisha Ghumra, Sumit Singh
Watch on : Prime Video
It’s like pot luck when one is surfing through the plethora of films and web series on various OTT platforms and stumbles on an unsung gem in midst of mindless violenceand revenge dramas !
Yesterday, we watched ‘376 D’ in which even a movie buff like me couldn’t find a single known face. But the theme is so different in approach it intrigued my wife and me enough to start delving into it with optimism (after our overall poor show in Olympics’24). Initially a bit slow to begin with as the story builds up, it’s the second half of the 2 hour film that’s anutterly absorbing courtroom drama on the nuances of certain sections of criminal jurisprudence, and which are played out by three mightily impressive actors representing the two sides and the presiding Judge.
For the uninitiated (most of us are in such matters) Section ‘376 D’ of the IPC ‘if a woman is raped by a group of people acting together, each person involved will be considered as having committed the offense of rape and can be punished with rigorous imprisonment for at least twenty years, up to imprisonment for life, along with a fine..’ Dealing with this disturbing subject and section that comes up for debate, the film gets it’stitle. However, there is a critical difference in this film’s theme – ‘can a person claim justice under Sec 376D being a man and not a woman !’
Avoiding any spoilers from us, the storyline ( with all its cinematic license) picks up on the streets of Delhi to tell of a shocking crime committed on them that changes the lives of two brothers, who’ve always been thick as thieves. With one brother critical and in coma, the elder one tries to seek legal recourse aided by his lady friend, but they both begin to realise that the laws in place may not give them justice. They finally find an intrepid lawyer to fight the case against huge odds.
It must the stated that the film is not for the very young and has parts which are disturbing but in a society that is steeped in traditional ways of thinking and with rigid laws in place, this film was to us a revelation of sorts and in the genre of thought-provoking dramas like ‘SirfEk Banda Kafi Hai’ (Manoj Bajpayee) & ‘Patna Shukla’ (Raveena Tandon). The lead actors convey their plight but the main action comes from the two sparring lawyers played by Denisha Ghumra & Sumit Singh.
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