Assi Movie Review | Anupama Chopra | THR India

Anupama Chopra reviews Assi, starring Kani Kusruti, Taapsee Pannu, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kumud Mishra, Revathy and Naseeruddin Shah, and directed by Anubhav Sinha. Built around the harrowing statistic that a rape is reported in India every 20 minutes, the film is a searing courtroom drama that follows Parima, a middle-class teacher whose contented life with her husband Vinay and young son is shattered when she is gang-raped in a moving SUV after walking home alone from a Delhi subway station. Taapsee plays Raavi, the lawyer who argues Parima's case, while Zeeshan brings quiet devastation as Vinay, a husband broken from the inside but unwavering in his support. Revathy anchors the courtroom as a wise and weary judge, and Kumud plays a man punished by fate and the justice system. The film delivers gutting emotional moments, fine performances and acerbic commentary on the rotten state of urban India, our skewed ideas of justice and the many ways in which women are brutalized. But the messaging eventually overtakes the storytelling, with plot contrivances and a detour into vigilante territory diluting its potency. Still, the close-ups and monologues of Kani and Taapsee get under your skin, and Taapsee's lament for every woman in the country has the power to bring you to tears. Assi is now streaming on Zee5. #Assi #AnubhavSinha #KaniKusruti