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Section 375

Where to watch.

Watch Section 375 with a subscription on Prime Video.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Akshaye Khanna

Tarun Saluja

Richa Chadha

Hiral Gandhi

Meera Chopra

Anjali Damle

Rohan Khurana

Kainaz Khurana

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Section 375 movie review: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha deliver a brave film that raises questions

Section 375 movie review: akshaye khanna and richa chadha’s courtroom drama is a brave film that makes you think and raises important questions..

Section 375 Cast: Akshaye Khanne, Richa Chadha, Rahul Bhat, Meera Chopra Director: Ajay Bahl

Courtroom drama is Bollywood’s favourite formula that is tried-and-tested. With power-packed punchlines, influential lawyers fighting high-profile cases, and the verdict mostly giving out a strong message, courtroom tales are known to be gripping. And, therefore, it’s no surprise how Section 375 , based on Section 375 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), effortlessly manages to register its presence in the minds of people. Directed by Ajay Bahl with actors Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chadha in pivotal roles, it’s surely a brave and relevant film that tackles a rather complex issue — of laws made to protect women, and the very same laws being misused by women for their vested interest. The way narrative switches from one person’s point of view to another’s, presents both sides of the story.

Without unnecessary contrivances, the film’s story is pretty much as shown in its trailer. A movie director, Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) is accused of raping the junior costume design assistant, Anjali Dangle (Meera Kapoor). He is deemed guilty and awarded a sentence of 10-year rigorous imprisonment. He appeals in the High Court and to defend his case, he hires a high-profile lawyer — the best in the business — Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna), who tries to belittle every argument that the prosecution lawyer Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadha) makes in the court.

Watch the trailer for Section 375:

The film doesn’t feel dragged at any point and sends out the messages it intends to, quite early on. It touches upon its main premise of making the audience aware of what Section 375 is about. As otherwise perceived that ‘no rape happens without a woman’s consent’, the film strongly emphasises on the need to differentiate between ‘will’ and ‘consent’, the two main requisites when it comes to sex.

The courtroom scenes are loaded with data, statistics, facts and figures laid out on a platter for you to digest at one go. However, don’t complain if you miss Sunny Deol’s signature ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ monologue from Damini, or Amitabh Bachchan’s rulebook on women’s safety in Pink or Taapsee Pannu’s speech on secularism in Mulk, because Section 375 has no such over-the-top loud or screaming scenes in the courtroom.

However, there are ample heavy-weight dialogues that form the soul of this film and writer Manish Gupta deserves a special mention for that. Imagine these said in a brooding tone: ‘We’re not in the business of justice, we’re in the business of law’, ‘Law is not justice. It’s a tool to get there’, ‘Never fall in love with the law, it’s a jealous mistress’ and ‘Justice is abstract, law is a fact’. So much gravitas, no!

Then there are the intended puns placed cleverly in the script. For instance the scene in which Akshaye compares ‘daal, chawal, dahi’ to ‘defense, prosecutor and law’, or the scene in which the judge clarifies he doesn’t believe in ‘one-size-fits-all kind of decision’ when it comes to giving verdict in a case.

Among the cast, Akshaye Khanna impresses with his intense and gritty performance in every frame, though he definitely could have worked a bit more on his flat facial expressions that he didn’t let go of throughout the film. Following suit is Richa Chadha who proves yet again why she is one of the finest we have in Bollywood. Her nuanced act as a junior lawyer, evidently overwhelmed, as she fights her career’s first big case against someone who was once her boss, deserves applause. Kishore Kadam and Krutika Desai as judges, Sandhya Mridul and Shriswara as the protective wives are performances that add value to the script.

The film gives you a deep insight into what goes on in the minds of those holding the position of power, who think it’s normal to violate a woman’s mind and body with or without her consent. At one point, Rahul Bhat’s character is shown yelling at the female costume assistant because she dared to ‘think’.

Section 375 also shows the corrupt side of our judicial system. Despite the lawyer’s wife warning him that ‘given today’s scenario, it’s not right to defend a rape accused’, and that they have a young daughter, he goes ahead and takes up the case. And in his defense, his 8-year-old watches cartoon network, so chances are unlikely she would spot her father on news channels, being involved in such a case. That’s not it. Familiarising you with our legal system, Section 375 shows how this senior lawyer puts in more research into knowing the personal traits and track record of the judge assigned to his case, than the file of his client.

Also read: Milind Soman on the age gap between him and wife Ankita: It is same as the difference ‘between my age and my mother’s age’

The film also brings you closer to the harsh reality of our system in which the rape victim is subjected to shamefully explicit questions. Questions such as ‘What was the position while she was being raped, was there proper penetration, did the accused ejaculate’and so on and so forth, would make you cringe.

To conclude, Section 375 is a well-timed film with the MeToo movement still finding its ground. As it rightly states, ‘every false accusation of rape is another nail in the coffin of an actual rape victim’. This film raises important questions and leaves you thinking.

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Akshaye and Richa’s ‘Section 375’ Is a Tricky But Compelling Watch

Ajay bahl’s courtroom drama ‘section 375’ is a gripping film., section 375.

( Alert: This review contains spoilers.)

Did he or did he not? Is she or is she not? These questions invariably become the crux of the plot of filmmaker AJay Bahl’s compelling courtroom drama Section 375, which hits a screen near you this Friday. Written by Manish Gupta, Section 375, with the able help of actors Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra and Rahul Bhat, provokes the viewer to acknowledge how impossible it becomes to analyse, investigate and judge an intangible complex web of allegations and counter allegations that involve human emotions, relationships, hierarchy at the workplace, ego, lust and betrayal.

Akshaye Khanna, as high profile lawyer Tarun Saluja, sets up the theme of Section 375 at the very start. While lecturing a bunch of law students, he brings up the Nirbhaya case as an example to leave them with a piece of advice, “Justice is abstract, while law is a fact,” he says.

“A convicted rapist also has a legal right to receive a proper legal defence,” argues Tarun when his wife questions him about taking up Rohan’s case after he is convicted by a lower court.

The story of Section 375 is pretty simple - filmmaker Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) is accused of raping a junior costume assistant, Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra), at his residence. With all the circumstantial evidence piled up against him, Rohan is found guilty and sentenced to 10-years of rigorous imprisonment by a local court. Rohan’s wife approaches the hot shot Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) to fight his case in the Mumbai High Court, and a fiery Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadha) appears to represent the survivor. How what appears to be a simple open-and-shut case then unravels into a tangled mess of truth and lies forms the rest of the story.

Story and screenplay writer Manish Gupta along with Ajay Bahl (credited for additional screenplay) keep the viewers guessing and engaged by peeling off layer by layer, the exact sequence of events, through statements, confessions and witness narratives, to suggest what might have happened at that fateful meeting between Rohan and Anjali.

For all its strengths, Section 375 does have its shortcomings too. For one, the build-up of the two main characters - the lawyers (played by Akshaye and Richa), who represent the survivor and the accused, is skewed.

“A convicted rapist also has a legal right to receive a proper legal defence,” argues Tarun when his wife questions him about taking up Rohan’s case after he is convicted by a lower court. The rest of the narrative then goes on to step-by-step counter all the charges levelled against Rohan, there’s a whole lot of grey here, and that’s what keeps the proceedings gripping.

For all its strengths, Section 375 does have its shortcomings too. For one, the build-up of the two main characters - the lawyers (played by Akshaye and Richa), who represent the accused and the survivor, is skewed. Akshaye’s character is well defined, his background, family, home is effectively sketched and he is also given the smarter comebacks, while Richa’s Hiral is barely fleshed out.

A sly and shrewd Akshaye, who’s batting for the accused, is shown to have an opinionated but supportive wife, while Richa who’s an ambitious lawyer and is passionate about women’s rights has broken up with her progressive boyfriend (who still cooks for her by the way). Also, the sequences depicting protests by activists outside the Mumbai High Court to give the narrative a sense of drama are way over-the-top at times.

While one should not question the existence of a film like Section 375, it gets a little tricky when such an accomplished film is made (as one of the character in the film states) “to prove that this case is a classic example of a woman using as a weapon the very law that was made to protect her.” One can almost hear the MRAs cheering from the stands and shouting #MenToo, when the actual genuine cases of rape and sexual assault hugely outnumber the false ones.

But as Tarun quips at the end of Section 375 , “We’re not in the business of justice, we’re in the business of law.” So, is the law effectively enforced at the end of the trial? Yes. Is justice delivered at the end of the case? Well, that’s for you to find out.

The Quint’s Rating: A definite 3 and a half stars.

(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

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Topics:    richa chadha      section 375      akshaye khanna  .

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Section 375 movie review: A solid courtroom drama

Section 375 is a solid courtroom drama, with good performances all round, which keeps us engaged right through, even through some of the film’s hiccups..

Section 375 movie cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra, Rahul Bhat, Kishore Kadam, Krutika Desai, Shree Swara Section 375 movie director: Ajay Bahl Section 375 movie rating: Three stars

Section 375 is a timely film. It comes at a time when the impact of #MeToo appears to have ebbed, if you go by the noise created by social media platforms, but is in fact finding its way forward, and digging in.

This is a movement which is here to stay, and like all movements, it will have its high and low moments: Section 375: Marzi Ya Zabardasti has an on-the-nose title, but manages to include several welcome, complex grey areas in its telling.

The setting is the film industry in Mumbai. For a Bollywood movie to focus on the sexual exploitation rampant on set is not a new thing, but in a post-#MeToo period, it assumes fresh significance.

A complaint of rape by junior costume designer Anjali Dangle (Chopra) against director Rohan Khurana (Bhat) is the pivot around which the plot revolves. Defence lawyer, top legal eagle Tarun Saluja (Khanna) makes the case that it was a matter of consent and that it’s an affair gone wrong; the victim’s lawyer Hiral Mehta (Chadha) wants the court to see beyond the ‘facts of the case’, and have justice served.

It’s well known that the law will almost always be skewed in favour of the rich and the powerful, and in this case, the accused whose sense of entitlement remains even when he is behind bars. Khurana blusters and scowls as the suave Saluja keeps holding out hope: we will go by the facts as recorded, he says, and those will get you free.

The result is a solid courtroom drama, with good performances all round, which keeps us engaged right through, even through some of the film’s hiccups. To produce disturbing evidence of physical harm in camera is one thing, but to display it repeatedly to the court and to us, the audience, borders on the voyeuristic. Not nice. Also, the conflation of national pride and rape statistics in India is ludicrous and wrong: rape is a crime, and it needs punishment, wherever in the world it happens to be committed.

But what saves the film is the way the court (and for once, it is good to see the judges not just as paper cut-outs but with people who want to do the right thing, and both Kadam and Desai are impressive) articulates its conclusion. Consent is imperative every single time, even between people who have been intimate before; and the wielding of power in the workplace and demanding sexual favours in exchange of career advancement is a crime. No two ways about it.

Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates . Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express .

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User reviews

Section 375

After pink, this movie has talked about other side with super performances..

• prafullasrivastav
• Sep 14, 2019

Stunning drama between law and justice

• Sep 12, 2019

One of the Best Court Room Drama-Movies..!

• Tejas_Vinda_AITS

Akshay khanna always under-rated this movie is worth it

The movie teaches you a lot..

• rahuldivaker
• Sep 19, 2019
• shahrukhullahkhan

Disturbing courtroom drama!

• naveenmuktevi
• Nov 12, 2019

Law is not Justice. Correctly said

• Sep 15, 2019

One-Line Review: Section 375 / Courtroom Drama with Some Novelty / 7 Stars

• Jun 14, 2020

section 375

• aniruddhawaghmare

Thought provoking...Really

• aadityakalal-33719
• Jan 13, 2021

Masterpiece

• pushpendrameena-89339
• Sep 13, 2019

Good, But....

• drsvkrishna
• Sep 26, 2019

Budget Devil's Advocate

• stanleygabriel97
• Nov 22, 2019

Stinging Indictment!

• SinhaSomesh

An excellent movie led by a superlative Akshaye Khanna

• vibhav3008-726-592253
• Nov 20, 2019

Great one in present scenario

Hits the right notes.

• bestvivek-agarwal
• Sep 16, 2019

Weak writing

• Nov 19, 2019

An eye opener

• anindambasu
• Nov 9, 2019

The Other Side of the Coin.

• Dec 17, 2019

Fantastic flick! Stirs up so many thoughts..

• mayank-sharma1984
• Nov 8, 2019

Well-made courtroom drama, similar to 'Pink'.

• AP_FORTYSEVEN
• Jan 7, 2020

Huge Effort to Justify Sexual Harassment at Work!

• amnasiddiq-54253
• Jan 26, 2020

You have to watch it....

• predator-50503

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