Review: ‘Assi’ reaches for shock treatment to talk about rape culture

She lies on the ground, barely alive after the gang rape from the previous night. The image of her in a long shot, struggling for breath and semi-clothed, is enough for us to understand what she has been through.

But it’s not enough for director Anubhav Sinha. He wants us to see exactly how Parima (Kani Kusruti) got there. How four men dragged the school teacher into their vehicle. How they took turns. How they recorded their assault. Parima suffers horribly; so do we.

Assi proceeds on the principle of shock treatment. The only way to shake viewers out of their presumed apathy over rape is apparently to pick an extreme instance of this crime and show it in excruciating detail.

The Hindi film’s title refers to the number of rapes supposedly committed in India every day. Every 20 minutes, the screen blanks out to the numeral “20”. While you were watching, another rape was committed, Assi reminds you in sledgehammer fashion.

Harrowing, hard-hitting and high-minded – Assi proudly wears the triple-H crown of the conscience-pricking Bollywood social drama. Sinha’s latest act of provocation+prescription after films on Islamophobia, caste discrimination and domestic violence does have more layers than is suggested in the unsettling opening minutes.

Alongside launching into the courtroom battle that follows from the savage attack, Sinha and co-writer Gaurav Solanki explore the stigma faced by survivors, the many meanings of justice, and a generally selfish, benumbed society. Assi is especially worried about the effects of desensitisation on children, represented by Dhruv (Advik Jaiswal), the son of Parima and Vinay (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub).

Progressive advocate Raavi (Taapsee Pannu), who is representing Parima, has to deal with influential perpetrators, the suave defence lawyer Navratan (Satyajit Sharma) and the no-nonsense judge Vasudha (Revathy). An unpredictable factor influences the trial in the shape of Raavi’s troubled brother-in-law Kartik (Kumud Mishra). Kartik’s arc helps Sinha extend his thoughts on the fitting response to repeated rapes.

There is a debate too many in a film packed with argumentative characters and twists borrowed from police procedurals. Grimly righteous in tone and knowingly stuffed with contradictions, the movie loses some of its battle by undermining its own logic.

While Assi recommends taking Parima at her word when her case makes its way to court, the film itself isn’t convinced by this argument. Would viewers have been so firmly on Parima’s side if they hadn’t been forced to witness her brutalisation? Must rape on the screen be graphic and prolonged for audiences to feel terrible for the survivor? Must a woman be set upon by many men?

The depiction isn’t voyeuristic. But it isn’t necessary either.

The emergence of a vigilante further muddies the waters. Raavi’s frequently weepy courtroom behaviour only appears to confirm Vasudha’s professional scepticism. (Although this doesn’t prevent Vasudha from allowing children to attend the trial). There is a touch of the debating class to the staging, some of which is powerful and some of which is for effect.

The muted colour palette and unnerving close-ups by cinematographer Ewan Mulligan complement Anubhav Sinha’s approach. Parima’s horrific injuries, the near catatonia of her spouse Vinay, Dhruv’s heartbreaking curiosity – these register strongly when the camera is centimetres away from their faces.

The superbly performed film includes a cameo by Naseeruddin Shah, playing Kartik’s acquaintance. Jatin Goswami is a poetry-loving cop in the vein of Om Puri from Ardh Satya.

Manoj Pahwa has an important role as the father of one of the accused, who has a wholly believable reaction to his son’s involvement. This track about parenting is contrasted with Vinay’s befuddlement on how to handle his young son.

Far too invested in emotion-led rhetoric to be a convincing lawyer, Taapsee Pannu is further restrained by Raavi’s uni-dimensional characterisation. Revathy’s superbly calibrated Vasudha often stands in for the audience member who is tiring of Raavi’s river of tears.

Assi makes Raavi a part of Parima’s misery. But Raavi’s saviour complex is not as compelling as Parima’s mission to regain her dignity.

When Parima is discharged from the hospital, the mound of slippers outside her home suggests death, rather than a return. Her attempt to go back to her teaching job produces a genuinely shocking moment of truth about the debasement of violence against women.

Kani Kusruti is fabulous in a role that demands that she put her body and soul on the line. Kusruti also has one of the film’s most memorable scenes, about how survivors remember rape. At least in these moments, Assi takes its own pontifications on rape culture seriously.