Section 375

#FinalVerdict

It's not just Director Ajay Bahl & writer Manish Gupta's best work but also one of the best to come out of Bollywood. Kudos to Panorama Studios, SCIPL, Abhishek Pathakk, Kumar Mangat Pathak and Aditya Chowksey! With stellar performances & superlative narration, besides presenting a captivating courtroom drama so effectively, Section 375 will hold your guts till the end & pinch your soul hard. It gets a bit technical to keep it realistic to the core. Near-perfect!

Boasting of a gripping screenplay that holds your attention till the end & despite the film's slow narrative, it keeps you engaged. The film has some hard hitting dialogues(Ajay Bahl, Manish Gupta), which elevates the situations & the corresponding elements. The interrogation sequence, Akshaye Khanna confronting with the judges & his opening speech & closing statements along with Richa Chadha's, Section 375 keeps going on a high. It demands your attention and you'll be glued to the screen throughout. Pedantic!

Teamwork makes dream work & this holds true for Section 375. The manner in which director Ajay Bahl has extracted realistic performances from the actors is definitely laudable. Manish Gupta is a genius. The verbal jousting is loaded with details and facts. Sudhir K Chaudhary's cinematography is most appropriate. Arif Sheikh & Praveen Angre's editing is razor-sharp. Clinton Cerejo's background score is exhilarating, filling in the silences very well. Apurva Singh Rathore's casting is spot on. Spiffing! From actors in smaller roles to the central players, there isn't a false note here. It's, undoubtedly & undisputedly the towering Akshaye Khanna who steals the show. It won't be erroneous to state that it's one of his career best and memorable performances. Trailing an extreme close second is Richa Chadha, who manages to'earn her place under the sun' with her no-nonsense portrayal of Hiral Gandhi. Meerra Chopra delivers a rock solid performance. She utilises to the maximum the screen time that is offered to her. Rahul Bhat gets into the skin of his character. Watch out for the scene when he comes on the set & blasts everyone. Menacing! Shriswara speaks a lot through her silences & makes her presence felt. Krutika Desai & Kishor Kadam are authentically impressive.

On the whole, Section 375 is a hard-hitting/power-packed courtroom drama and a compelling film. It makes its point with such force that it is difficult not to be impressed. It isn't often that Bollywood shows such spine. Don't miss this one! Double Thumbs Up!

Direction: After B.A.Pass, Ajay Bahl is back with hard hitting topping Section 375. His direction was mature enough that he engage the audience since from beginning to the climax. Movie started from one end and stop on other end. This is sheer beauty of direction.

Performances: Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chadda have stolen the show with power-pack performances. Meera Chopra looks innocent in her role. Rahul Bhat's acting was good. Kishore Kadam and Kruttika Desai added more justice to the script. Small but great performances by Shrikant Yadav, Shriswara and Sandhya Mridul.

Script: Manish Gupta has done brilliant job as he made engaging court room drama like we have always cherish court room drama of Pink movie. Climax has some ground reality which is another great inclusion. Similar approach was discussed for Pink but finally Manish left the audience puzzled at the end of movie.

Dialogues: Dialogues are the food for any good script. Ajay Bahl has written some great and punches dialogues with inclusion of great fact and analysis. This act as value addition to the script.

Box-office: This court room drama opened with lower collection on day 1. It has collection 1.45 crores on day 1. Day 2 has witness great growth and collection jump to 3.07 crores. Now all eyes on Sunday's collection. It will be 4-5 crores as word of mouth is so much positive for this movie. Life time collection must be in the range of 30-50 crores.

Last words: Don't miss this master piece by Ajay Bahl. I repeat Don't miss this.

Section 375 - A rape is registered, a woman is violated and trampled by a person in superior position, and for the ease of understanding, it's the film industry that's in focus. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and others are people against whom the #MeToo movement began in Hollywood that later spread like a wildfire in India too. The film director in Section 375 played by Rahul Bhat strongly denies the allegations of the junior costume designer but there is almost infallible evidence against him, good enough for his conviction.

With a running time of 125 minutes, the narrative keeps you on the edge of your seat as the courtroom drama swings from one end of the spectrum to the other. Truth is often stranger than fiction and lawyers are in the business of law, not justice. Akshay Khanna delivers yet another superlative performance in the role of the suave, smooth talking and convincing defense lawyer, fighting a case that's all but lost, battling public and media fury on the one hand and opposition at home too. Richa Chadha is not exactly spectacular as the public prosecutor, somewhat undermined by her flawed dialogue delivery that sounds monotonous, but quite formidable in her upright mannerisms and conviction of the rape. The director manages to unfold the suspense slowly and logically, keeping the consequence and judgement open to debate, interpretation and it's for you to take sides.

Section 375 is deeply disturbing with graphic violence, uncomfortable interrogation of the victim in the courtroom, a botched police investigation and a judiciary under social turbulence. The subject is contemporary and of significant relevance in workplace, any for that matter. It has a message that needs to be absorbed amid all the throbbing drama where sympathy may change sides. If you don't enjoy depth and detail or are looking for entertainment, give Section 375 a miss. But if you like serious narrative, in-depth analysis, crevices of law and human psychology, please watch the film for a very rewarding mental stimulus.

Standing ovation for Akshay Khanna on his impeccable dialogue deliveries and thought provoking impressions during courtroom scenes. Kudos to Richa Chadha on taking up such a role. Truly raged fire with her acting skills. In fact she should take more roles like this. Awesome direction by Ajay Bahl. One of the best court room drama I've seen in these recent years. And that too on such a sensitive topic. Raises up many questions at the back of your head. Very engaging script throughout. I kept glued to my chair till the very end. Excellent background score as well.

Congratulations to the entire cast for such an effort. Need more flicks like this. 👍

This film may not be successful at the box office but it's a well made and well acted film. Deserves more.