''Article 15'' is a 2019 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film directed and produced by

Anubhav Sinha Anubhav Sinha (born 22 June 1965) is an Indian film director, producer and writer who works in Hindi films. He is notable for movies like '' Ra.One'', '' Tum Bin'', '' Dus'', '' Mulk'', '' Article 15'' and ''Thappad''. Early and personal life ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gaurav Solanki. The film stars Ayushmann Khurrana as a police detective who investigates the disappearance of three girls from a small village, uncovering a history of

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

-based oppression along the way. The supporting cast includes

Nassar Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...

Manoj Pahwa Manoj Pahwa (born 8 December 1963), is an Indian film and television actor who is noted for his role as Bhatia in the comedy series ''Office Office'' (2001). He has acted in over 70 films as a character actor, including '' 7½ Phere'' (2005), ' ...

Kumud Mishra Kumud Mishra is an Indian actor in Hindi cinema. He mainly plays supporting roles in movies, television series, and web series but has also played lead roles in some of them. Career He played Eknath, a trade union leader in the 1995 Doordars ...

Isha Talwar Isha Talwar (born 22 December 1987) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi-language films, besides appearing in a few Tamil and Telugu films. She started out as a model and appeared in various commercial ...

Sayani Gupta Sayani Gupta (born 9 October 1985) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. A graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India, she made her feature film debut in 2012 in ''Second Marriage Dot Com''. She has since appeared in sup ...

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub Khan is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is frequently cast in supporting roles, and has appeared in more than 25 films in a career which has spanned eight years. He has also worked in a Hindi serial "Kyunk ...

, Sushil Pandey, Veen Harsh and Sumbul Touqeer. The film is named after

Article 15 of the Constitution of India Article 15 of the Constitution of India forbids discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. It applies Article 14's general principle of equality in specific situations by forbidding classifications made on ...

, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or birthplace. While not based on one specific event, the film is inspired by multiple real-life cases involving crimes driven by caste-based discrimination, including the 2014 Badaun gang rape allegations and 2016 Una flogging incident.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on 1 March 2019 in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. The film's soundtrack was composed by Anurag Saikia, Piyush Shankar, Devin Parker and Gingger with lyrics written by

Rashmi Virag Rashmi Virag is the screen name of Rashmi Singh and Virag Mishra, an Indian lyricist duo active in Bollywood. At first, Singh and Mishra wrote lyrics themselves; in 2015, they began working as a duo. Singh won the Best Lyricist award at the 6 ...

Shakeel Azmi Yousuf Kamal (born 29 May 1938), better known as Shakeel Yousuf, is a Pakistani actor best known for his roles in PTV drama serial Uncle Urfi (1972), as 'Mehboob Ahmed' in PTV's Aangan Terha (1984) and as ''Taimoor Ahmad'' in Ankahi (1982). H ...

, Slow Cheeta, Dee MC, Kaam Bhaari and SpitFire, and released under the banner

Zee Music Company Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Bollywood music in a short ...

. ''Article 15'' was the opening film for the 10th edition of

London Indian Film Festival London Indian Film Festival is a film festival established in 2010 to showcase Indian independent film. It was theatrically released in India on 28 June 2019. The film received critical acclaim, with praise for its performances, direction, script, and sensitive portrayal of its subject matter, and grossed over 93.08 crore worldwide.

Plot

In the village of Laalgaon, two

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

girls are seen trapped in a school bus by some men. Ayan Ranjan, a

St. Stephen's College, Delhi St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college ...

graduate and an

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

officer, is assigned to Laalgaon as the

Additional Superintendent of Police Police ranks of India Superintendent of police (SP) is a senior rank in the Indian Police Service (IPS). They wear a star and an Ashoka emblem on their epaulettes with 'IPS' below. The larger and more important districts in India are headed by ...

and is warmly welcomed by officers Brahmadatt Singh and Kisan Jatav. Ayan encounters various forms of caste discrimination as soon as he arrives in the village, and periodically shares what he observes to his wife, Aditi, over the phone. Local villagers come to Ayan's reception asking the officers to find the missing girls but are turned down. Ayan reunites with his college friend Satyendra Rai, who is also a state government employee, who behaves suspiciously throughout the night. The next morning, the girls are found hanging from a tree, while a third girl, Pooja, is reported missing. Ayan orders Brahmadatt to file an FIR and to obtain the postmortem report for the deceased girls. The girls' autopsy yields evidence that they were

gang rape Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

d, but Brahmadatt prevents the release of this information and instead pushes a narrative suggesting that the girls, who were cousins, were lesbians and thus hanged by their fathers in an

honor killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...

. Meanwhile, Jatav and a junior officer are threatened and their vehicle set on fire by followers of Nishad, the leader of a group of activists within the village who seek speedy justice for the crime. Ayan questions Jatav about this the next day and becomes determined to solve the case. Gaura, Pooja's sister, informs Ayan that the girls used to work for a local builder named Anshu Naharia, who slapped Pooja after the girls asked for a raise in their salary of 3 rupees. Ayan decides to call Anshu for inquiry, even though Brahmadatt tries to persuade him not to do so, as Anshu is the son of local Minister Ramlal Naharia. During his interrogation, Anshu says that he slapped the girls in order to remind their entire caste about their place in society. Ayan, disgusted by the moral corruption of the village and its police force, posts on the police bulletin board a copy of Article 15 of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...

, which prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, religion, caste, or birthplace. Ayan meets with Dr. Malti Ram, the assistant coroner who performed the autopsy, and finds out that contrary to her official report, the girls were raped and then murdered. He asks her to go to

to examine the DNA samples and to contact only him, realizing that local law enforcement is conspiring with Ramlal Naharia to cover up the case. Meanwhile, Mahantji, a Brahmin politician vying for a local election, has formed an alliance with the head of the Laalgaon Dalit community in a show of inter-caste unity, but Nishad sees the display as a disingenuous political ploy and plans to protest it. Ayan tries to persuade Nishad to call off the protest, so he has men to help search for Pooja; Nishad refuses, but allows some of his men to aid Ayan's search. Ayan soon gets a call from Malti, who confirms that Anshu was the one who gang-raped and murdered the two girls. Ayan gets an arrest warrant for Anshu and raids his house, but Anshu is not present. However, Ayan spots a school bus that was seen by local villagers around the time of the girls' disappearance, and investigates the nearby school (which is owned by Anshu), where he finds evidence from the scene of girls' torture and rape. Elsewhere, Anshu is staying under protection from Brahmadatt, who is revealed to be one of the rapists. Brahmadatt kills Anshu to save himself. Panikar, a high-ranking CBI officer, arrives in Laalgaon and suspends Ayan from the case. Ayan refuses to give up his efforts and tracks down Satyendra, who admits that he was at a party hosted by Anshu the night of the crime, and that he witnessed Anshu, Brahmadatt, and police officer Nihal Singh (who works closely with Ayan) rape the girls while severely drunk and later hang their dead bodies. Ayan confronts Nihal, who commits suicide out of remorse. Jatav arrests Brahmadatt on Ayan's command. Panikar attempts to threaten Ayan into dropping the case, but Ayan reveals he has already submitted all his evidence to the Home Minister, and sharply criticizes the bigotry and injustice against people of lower castes among Indian law enforcement. Ayan then leads other officers through a large swamp in search of Pooja. They emerge on the other side in a jungle where they find a severely dehydrated Pooja hiding inside a pipe. They rescue her, and with her statement, Brahmadutt gets eleven years of imprisonment as punishment. Mahantji wins the election, hands down.

Cast

* Ayushmann Khurrana as ASP Ayan Ranjan

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

as Gaura, the sister of one of the victims *

as CBI Officer Panikar *

Circle Officer A Circle Officer (CO) or Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) is a police officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) or assistant commissioner of police (ACP) heading an independent police sub-division in the various states ...

Brahmadutt Singh *

as Sub Inspector Kisan Jatav *

as Aditi Ranjan *

as Nishad *

Ronjini Chakraborty Ronjini Chakraborty (born 24 February 1992) is an Indian actress and model. She has established her career in Hindi and Bengali films. Personal life Ronjini was born in a middle-class Bengali family on 8 December 1992 in Kolkata. She has been tr ...

as Dr. Malti Ram * Sumbul Touqeer Khan as Amali * Sushil Pandey as Nihal Singh

Production

The storyline of the film is based on the

socio-political Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...

situation of the country, post-independence time drawing inferences from true-life events researched over the last 6 months, akin to '' Mulk''. Giving details on ''Article 15''

stated that "this film is an investigative drama where the audience too is an accused party ... A very challenging film that needed an extraordinary actor like Ayushmann." The film is originally titled ''Article Victor''.

Filming

The filming started on 1 March 2019 in

. During filming on 14 March 2019, Ayushmann Khurrana the leading star of the film, and the team entered into a

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

filled with

leech Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...

es to shoot scenes of the film. He shared a picture of the team on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. The shooting of the film was completed in the first half of April 2019.

Release

''Article 15'' had been selected as opening film for the 10th edition of

London Indian Film Festival London Indian Film Festival is a film festival established in 2010 to showcase Indian independent film. It was released in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 28 June 2019. It was made available for online streaming on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The Film is originally scheduled to release on 23 September 2014.

Critical response

''Article 15'' received critical acclaim. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .

Anna M. M. Vetticad Anna Mercy Mathews Vetticad, commonly known as Anna M. M. Vetticad, is an Indian film critic and journalist. She has been in the field of journalism since 1994. Vetticad has also hosted her own interview show, ''Star Trek'', on Headlines Today ...

of ''

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

'' concurred with Sengupta and Sharma, gave four and a half stars out of five and found 'Sinha's unfaltering direction' was backed by Ewan Mulligan's 'unsparing cinematography' and a 'strong cast'. Concluding, she wrote, "Watching this film is an overwhelming emotional experience," and she opined, ''Article 15'' is the best that Indian cinema can be in these troubled times if it chooses to hold a mirror up to our society..."

Raja Sen Raja Sen (born 10 November 1955) is an Indian film and television director and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the father of actress Rimi Sen. Career Raja Sen first received recognition with ''S ...

writing for ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' rated the film with four and a half star out of five and opined that the film is a tribute to

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

the director of 1988 film ''

Mississippi Burning ''Mississippi Burning'' is a 1988 American crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker that is loosely based on the 1964 murder investigation of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Mississippi. It stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI ...

''. He praised Solanki and Sinha for honest writing, haunting shots by Mulligan and performances of ensemble. Ending his writing, he said, "''Article 15'' is not a film in search of easy answers. Instead, it is a reminder that we already know the questions but don't ask them enough. 'Not cool, sir'." Vijayalakshmi Narayanan of '' Radio City'' gave the film four and a half stars out of five, and said "Coming to the cast, Ayushmann leads from the front and one cannot be thankful enough. The actor proves his mettle yet again when it comes to backing good scripts. He makes the right noise even in his moments of melancholy." Sreeparna Sengupta of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the film four stars out of five, praising the performance of Ayushmann Khurrana,

and

, and background music and cinematography of Ewan Mulligan as well. She felt that Sinha had given another dimension to the narrative by surfacing the artful shades through the characters and setting. She opines, "Anubhav Sinha's ''Article 15'' is designed like a crime thriller. What works for the film is that it's thought-provoking, hard-hitting while unflinchingly bringing to light burning social issues." Concluding, she wrote that the film is not a 'light watch', rather it is 'definitely relevant', 'compelling' and will start a debate. Devesh Sharma reviewing for ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

'' rates the film with four stars out of five. He praised the screenplay, dialogues, and cinematography of the film apart from the performance of Khurrana and the supporting cast. He recommends watching the film for its 'riveting performances' and its 'underlying message', and opines that the film presents the candid truth about contemporary society. Quoting

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

's character from ''

A Few Good Men ''A Few Good Men'' is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom C ...

'' – "You can't handle the truth," he hopes that the audience goes out to watch the film and 'learns to handle the truth...' Priyanka Sinha Jha of

News18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (formerly SGA Finance and Management Service and Network18 Fincap Limited) commonly referred to as the Network18 Group and sometimes as the Network18–Eenadu Group, is an Indian media conglomerate owned b ...

, praising Khurrana and ensemble of Kumud Sharma, Manoj Pahwa,

, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and M Nassar for their performances, rates the film with four stars out of five. Agreeing with Vetticad, she writes, "''Article 15'' is remarkable in that it does not pontificate. It merely holds up the mirror to a society still entangled in age-old caste politics that absolutely overrides the modern ideals of liberty and equality." Concluding, she opines that Sinha has a knack for combining elements of popular film-making with realistic story-telling to give masterful films. Writing for the ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, an author of a book on Gulzar, co-editor of a book on films; and a documentary scriptwriter. He was a columnist at BBC News, Business Standard, Hindustan Times and Financial Express. And a staff writer of ...

, termed it a 'radical' film, tackling social issues. He praised Sinha and Gaurav Solanki for the screenplay and cast for effective performances. He concludes the review as, "

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

remains true to the demands of the plot without losing control over its principal purpose – administering a bitter pill with just a hint of a sugar coating. It works wonderfully well. ''Article 15'' is a not to be missed film." Harish Wankhede in the Indian Express review praised the film for its nuanced depiction of Dalit characters but also criticised the film for not showcasing the Dalit person as a protagonist. Mayur Sanap of ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

'' rated it four stars out of five and found it a 'gripping social thriller'. He commended the performances and script, and concludes, "With Anubhav Sinha's straightforward and unflashy directorial style, the film proves to be an effective drama. It may be devoid of spectacle, but it is still full of zeal and warrants a must-watch." Manjusha Radhakrishnan of ''

Gulf News ''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was first launched in 1978, and is currently distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf Countries. Its online edition was launch ...

'' gave four stars out of five, and felt that the film was not easy to watch, however everyone should give it a chance. She opined, "''Article 15'' sobers you up instantly, but it also makes you think about Indian's complicated social segregation based on the accident of birth." Lakshana N Palat of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'' rated it with three and a half stars out of five, praised the performances of the cast and felt that the film's 'overly optimistic ending' was not in tune. According to him, despite rough around the edges and flawed in storytelling, it is worth watching. Agreeing with Sengupta, he opines, "It's a start. It cannot change society, but it at least can initiate a conversation and debate that examines the horrors that lurk in this very society, invisible to our privileged eyes."

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides ...

rated the film three and a half stars out of five and praised Mulligan for cinematography, Nikhil Kovale for production design, Sinha and Solanki for story and screenplay. He commended performances of ensemble and direction of Sinha and felt that the look of the film was 'quite rich' and 'haunting', and that worked. He summed up the review as, "On the whole, ''ARTICLE 15'' is a hard-hitting film that raises some important issues related to caste, that is plaguing the country." Kunal Guha of ''

Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focuses on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...

'' rated the film with three stars out of five and felt that it reminded of hateful atrocities, and wrote, "The film, however, gets a bit tiring in parts when the message seems to be incessantly hammered down." However, he praised the performances of the ensemble. Other critics, including Rahul Ramchandani of ''

The Milli Gazette ''The Milli Gazette'' is an Indian English language digital news publication (formerly a fortnightly compact newspaper) based in Delhi. Founded in January 2000, the publication describes itself as the Indian Muslims' Leading News Source. In 20 ...

'' and Pardeep Attri of '' HuffPost India'', noted the film's portrayal of an upper-caste

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

policeman as a "saviour" to the

dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

. Dominique of ''

'' criticised the director for focusing less on dalit characters and more on Brahmin (upper-caste) ones just to make them "shine more brightly". An academic Shyaonti Talwar noted that the film shied away from complexities of the caste system and rather oversimplified the issue by repeating the "Brahmin-saviour' complex" done by other critically acclaimed Indian films and making a Brahmin protagonist of an "

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

lineage" the hero.

Box office

''Article 15'' had the opening day collection of 5.02 crore and opening weekend worldwide gross of 30.75 crore. In its opening week, the film grossed 47.62 crore worldwide. With a gross of 77.62 crore from India and 13.78 crore from overseas, , the film has grossed 91.70 crore worldwide.

Remake

In May 2020, it was announced that

Arunraja Kamaraj Arunraja Kamaraj is a singer, lyricist, actor, director in Tamil-language films. He is known for his works as lyricist in films such as '' Jigarthanda'', '' Theri'', ''Pencil'' and ''Kabali''. He also debuted as an actor in '' Raja Rani'' and a ...

would be directing ''

Nenjuku Needhi ''Nenjuku Needhi'' () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language political drama film directed by Arunraja Kamaraj and produced by Boney Kapoor. A remake of the 2019 Hindi film '' Article 15'', it stars Udhayanidhi Stalin, Aari Arujunan, Tanya Ravichandra ...

'', the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

remake of the film.

Udhayanidhi Stalin Udhayanidhi Stalin (born 27 November 1977) is an Indian film producer, actor, and politician who prominently works in the Tamil cinema. He is the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu in the ministry led by his father, ...

was roped in to reprise Khurrana's role while

Tanya Ravichandran Tanya S Ravichandran (born as Abbirami Sriram) is an Indian actress who has worked in predominantly Tamil-language films. She had roles in '' Nenjukku Needhi'' (2022), ''Balle Vellaiyathevaa'' (2016), '' Brindavanam'' (2017) and ''Karuppan'' (2 ...

reprised the role done by Isha Talwar. It was released on 20 May 2022.

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Anurag Saikia, Piyush Shankar, Devin Parker, and Gingger while lyrics are written by

, Slow Cheeta, Dee MC, Kaam Bhaari, and Spit Fire. ''

'' based Debarati S Sen, in her review, said the album is "a fine example of original songs finding its way back into the Hindi film industry".

Home media

The film became available as VOD on

in August 2019.

References

External links

*
Article 15
on

*
Article 15
on Informative articL {{Anubhav Sinha 2019 crime drama films Indian crime drama films 2010s Hindi-language films Films about the caste system in India Films about social issues in India Films shot in Lucknow 2010s police procedural films Indian films based on actual events Crime films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Fictional portrayals of the Uttar Pradesh Police Indian police films 2019 films Hindi-language crime films Constitution of India Hindi films remade in other languages