Kani Kusruti and Taapsee Pannu Shine in This Urgent Masterpiece

Co-written by Sinha and Gaurav Solanki, the film is at its most powerful when it stays with Parima — bodily bruises slowly healing, soul permanently scarred — and her struggle to put the trauma behind her.

In a telling aside, Parima’s school’s principal (Seema Pahwa, in a cameo) is reluctant to let her return to work because, as she puts it baldly, she is not ready, nor are the students: the teenage boys in Parima’s mathematics class, who exchange lewd comments on their WhatsApp groups, are as complicit in the continuance of rape culture as are the vociferous defenders of the status quo who allow monsters to roam free.

It is an in-your-face sequence, but then this whole film is totally and deliberately in your face, with the filmmakers clearly hoping that you will never be able to get it out of your mind and heart, even if the frequent usage of the red screen borders perilously close to being gimmicky. It holds up a mirror to those who refuse to acknowledge just how hard it is for women to be out on their own, whether they are in playgrounds, using public transport, crossing roads, or, even their own homes. No place is safe.

The verbal clashes between the feisty Raavi (Taapsee Pannu, reuniting with Sinha after ‘Mulk’ and ‘Thappad’) who fights Parima’s case and the rapists’ lawyer (Satyajit Sharma), presided over by a seasoned judge (Revathi), may remind you of Sinha’s previous films which used the court-room as a battlefield to stake out the ethical and moral ground rapidly slipping from under our feet.

As the cop stuck between a corrupt system and his conscience, Jatin Goswami catches your eye. As does Ayyub, as the husband who stands like a rock, shielding his grievously wounded wife from prying eyes, allowing her to heal at her own pace. Manoj Pahwa and Supriya Pathak appear briefly as the parents of one of the perpetrators, starting off shocked and horrified and then veering into the zone of hamara bachcha hai, usko bachaana hai, kya karein.

Where the film falters is in the inclusion of a couple of characters, played by Kumud Mishra and Naseeruddin Shah, whose shadowy connection hints at something larger but remains fuzzy. The desire for vigilante-style justice takes away from the film’s core which stays within the realm of the credible — if there’s forensic evidence, it will be tampered with; if there are witnesses, they will be bought off — with the victim and her supportive lawyer being made to feel like there’s no justice in the system hollowed out by rutting, strutting men.

Watch Assi trailer here:

But I’m willing to ignore these contrived bits when it comes to the importance of this film, which calls out all those who are responsible for the state of things, including the men who feel able to toss off comments laden with casual misogyny, claiming that a rape can never happen without participation. And just so we can’t pretend it never happened, the film unflinchingly captures the heinous act, without a shred of prurience, making us feel each wound being inflicted on the woman: that sequence is as terrifying as anything I’ve seen in the movies. It is not done to titillate. It is done to bear witness.

And also when it comes to giving a shout out to Kani Kusruti, whose Parima refuses to succumb to weak victimhood even as she acknowledges how profoundly she has been impacted. In one of the most powerful lines in the film, she talks of feeling good upon hearing of a death: I never wanted to feel like this, she says, and that’s a tight sock to the jaw. It is a quietly searing performance, without once calling attention to itself.

Assi has flaws, but is never not an urgent, imperative call to arms. Watch it.

Assi movie cast: Taapsee Pannu, Kani Kusruti, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Advik Jaiswal, Revathy, Kumud Mishra, Jatin Goswami, Rajendra Sethi, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Pathak
Assi movie director: Anubhav Sinha
Assi movie rating: 3 stars