''Aligarh'' is a 2015 Indian

biographical drama A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a Nonfiction, non-fictional or History, historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. The ...

film directed by

Hansal Mehta Hansal Mehta (born 29 April 1968) is an Indian filmmaker. He started his career with television show '' Khana Khazana'' (1993–2000) and later moved on to directing films like ''Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!'' (2000), ''Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?'' (2002) an ...

and written by

Apurva Asrani Apurva Asrani (born 21 March 1978) is a National Award, Filmfare Award & Screen Award winning filmmaker based in Goa, India. He has written the human rights drama ''Aligarh'' (2016), the courtroom drama Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (20 ...

. It stars

Manoj Bajpayee Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

and

Rajkummar Rao Rajkummar Rao (born Raj Kumar Yadav; 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in more than 30 films since 2010, and is the recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, three ...

in the lead roles. The film had its world premiere at the 20th

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

, receiving a standing ovation. The film was released worldwide on 26 February 2016 to critical acclaim. Bajpayee won critical acclaim and a

Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor The Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Superlatives The record of the maximum number of wins in this category is with Amitabh Bachchan having won the award 4 ...

for his portrayal of Ramchandra Siras.

Plot

Set in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, it is the true story of Ramchandra Siras, a professor of Marathi and the head of the Classical Modern Indian Languages Faculty at the famed

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

, who was suspended on grounds of morality. He was also sacked from his position of Reader and Chair of Modern Indian Languages. The film starts at the moment when the professor's privacy is invaded by a film crew from a local TV station who forcibly enter his house and film him having sex with a male rickshaw-puller. Siras is forced to leave his housing at the university and is suspended from his job. He is contacted by a journalist who is sympathetic to him, and his case is taken up in court. The court rules in his favor and Siras' suspension is revoked, but before he can return to work, he is found dead.

Cast

as Prof. Ramchandra Siras *

as Journalist Deepu Sebastian * Ashish Vidyarthi as Advocate

Anand Grover Anand Grover is a senior lawyer known for legal activism in Indian law relating to homosexuality and HIV. Along with his wife Indira Jaising, he is a founder-member of the Lawyers Collective. He was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the r ...

* Ishwak Singh as Arvind Narayan * Nutan Surya as Anjali Gopalan * Divya Unny as Reporter * Suman Vaidya as Shadab Qureshi * Devyansh Agnihotri (Child Artist) * Saptrishi Ghosh as Assistant Lawyer *

Dilnaz Irani Dilnaz Irani is an Indian film, theatre and television actress. She started her Bollywood career as an actress in films such as ''68 Pages'' and ''Jodhaa Akbar'', and has appeared in the films ''Heroine (2012 film), Heroine'' in 2012 and ''Ali ...

as Nameeta * Sukhesh Arora as Tahir Islam * Sumit Gulati as Tashi * Sachin Parikh as Anuj * Balaji Gauri as Nita Grewal * K.R.Parmeshwar as Prof. Sridharan * Prashant Kumar as Rickshaw wala

Production

The film was shot in various parts of Uttar Pradesh including

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The city ...

and

Greater Noida Greater Noida is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city was created as an extension to Noida area under the ''UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976''. Situated south-east of t ...

(C-Block; Sector – Gamma 1). Wherein Greater Noida a small indoor sequence was shot for 3–4 days by Rajkumar Rao.

Reception

''Aligarh'' had its European première at the 59th BFI

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

on 10 October 2015. The response was generally superlative and the film garnered excellent reviews. ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' in its review called it a "A subtle, sensitive take on a controversial real-life court case involving the victimization of a gay college professor, Aligarh underscores the growing strength and diversity of Indian independent cinema". The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, in its 'Whats On' review of ''Aligarh'' called it "Probably the best film yet on the Indian gay male experience, Hansal Mehta directs a riveting and nuanced tale that is as touching as it is powerful." ''Aligarh'' had its India première in Mumbai at the 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on 30 October 2015. It also has the honour of being the only Indian film to open the festival since its inception. The response was once again overwhelming. Meenakshi Shedde, South Asia Consultant to the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

and award-winning critic, had this to say about in her ''

Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions were ...

'' review: "''Aligarh'' is masterfully directed: it is that rare film that courageously stands for human rights, including those of homosexuals, yet offers a quiet, distilled perspective." Columnist Aseem Chhabra in his

rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

review said "Aligarh is a very important film, a milestone in the history of Indian cinema that should start the much-needed conversation about how India treats a visible and yet often ignored minority group." Gay rights activist and editor of ''Bombay Dost'' magazine,

Ashok Row Kavi Ashok Row Kavi is an Indian journalist and LGBT rights activist. Life He was born in Mumbai on 1 June 1947. He graduated with honours in Chemistry from the University of Bombay. Later, he dropped out of engineering college. Due to his early ...

, in his Firstpost.com review called ''Aligarh'' "a masterpiece of cinematic skills" and went on to say "What Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani have done is pluck out a commonplace professor in a commonplace university and weave a true life story into a tapestry of terrifying, compelling drama." ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' gave 3.5 rating out of 5.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Hansal Mehta 2010s Hindi-language films Indian biographical drama films Indian LGBT-related films LGBT-related films based on actual events 2015 films 2015 biographical drama films 2015 LGBT-related films Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films shot in Uttar Pradesh Films about social issues in India LGBT-related drama films Gay-related films 2015 drama films Aligarh Aligarh Muslim University