Finally, a Bollywood film that is sexually abused

Guilty (Netflix)
Throw: Kiara Advani, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Gurfateh Singh Pirzada, Taher Shabbir, Dalip Tahil, Kunal Vijaykar, Manu Rishi
Direction: Ruchi Narain

Guilty, a film written by three women Kanika Dhillon, Atika Chohan and Ruchi Narain, who also directed it, opens with an interrogation and a brief introduction to how the so-called awakened millennials communicate with each other and with the world in general: abusive, crassand and always mentioning the unspeakable. The genitals and rectum, it seems, are still in their minds.

These fragments of conversations offer a glimpse of what they think about sex, and especially in an aggressive, violent and violent way. He betrays an overly cynical, almost apathetic worldview. It also postulates that young people, caught between and between childhood and adulthood, fake virility with manifest machismo. They confuse their sense of haughty right, of having assumed the right to say what they want to whom they want, like chutzpah.

Apna bhai shareef, and this woman is a w *** e, a f *** girl.

The conversation is around and about an incident on the night of February 14, 2018, at St. Martins College, and it involves VJ, or Vijay Pratap Singh (Gurfateh Singh Pirzada), the college cardinal, lead singer of a group , the son of a political father and a former model mother, and Tanu Kumar (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor), a scholarship student from Dhanbad, a girl who was after VJ and who would continue to pounce on him.

This also involves witnesses, student friends, mainly VJs. Among them, Nanki (Kiara Advani), the hot, brilliant, talented, tattooed and slightly disjointed from the college. She is also the girlfriend of VJ and the songwriter of their group.

Very early in the film, we hear the words "Me Too". His voyeuristic jokes and gossip about who is called and are almost always followed by derisory comments on the #MeToo season. It is intended to minimize its impact, its significance, but it exposes a new nervousness and a new fear – that its house is approaching, approaching.

Danish lawyer Ali Baig (Taher Shabbir), a lawyer, has been assigned to investigate the case through his law firm representing VJ. His job is to explore and fill in any gaps.

Guiltys the narrative style is neither linear nor intended to make us quickly understand what happened, when and how. From the investigation that is underway, we get conflicting information, a messy and fuzzy memory of events where shards of truth are clouded in lies or denial. Like Danish, we also need to monitor witnesses, gather evidence, assess stray and devious remarks.

Why would he do it

Soon we realize that the accused, VJ, and the world is convinced that he has not done so. First because he says he didn't have one, but also because he really didn't need it.

It makes no sense why would he do it?
"He has a hot girlfriend, all the girls wanted to go out with him. He could have anyone.
"He is rich, powerful, privileged. Why would he do it?

The opposite story concerns the accuser, the girl, and her dedication almost entirely to explaining why she is clearly lying.

She is a special type of girl … easy desperate.
Shell does everything to attract attention.

Her lack of privilege is the reason she is manipulative.

You should see how she dresses.
Look at her! Obviously, she would be lying, for money, for attention.

It’s as if the world wears special glasses with two different lenses, the left frames a perpetually raised eyebrow and looks at women with obscene or judged eyes, while the other, the right lens, casts a benign eye on the man through his rose – tinted glass.

The accuser is perceived as a sexual object and a seduction. Her body, her being is a weapon against men. She is also always seen as someone who shows too much skin, who laughs too much, who is too free, too daring, too forward, in need, who attracts too much attention and that always operates with a later motif. Everything that happened is what she does because she still controls her fate.

The accused, on the other hand, is seen as the victim who was forced to do something. His abusive behavior, his use of alcohol and drugs are considered harmless things that boys do. What he says is believed. His problems, his concerns are understood and embraced. He did not control his actions. What he did is another fault, especially the women.

Sexual assault, violence is the only crime in which the victim is stigmatized while the accused is considered the victim. Why? Because the pivot on which patriarchy turns is misogyny – beware of women, trust men.

And because patriarchy is about power, men simply having power over women are not enough. You have to feel it, feel it by exercising it with impunity. That is why, every woman is Maneka, and every man Vishwamitra.

Guilty finally reveals what happened that night in St. Martins, when a musical event was organized, why Tanu de Dhanbad disappeared, and why she then tweeted, out of her hand, @tanmanndhan, #NoMeansNo .

The mom-dad ecosystem

It also shows the ecosystem in which VJ grew up, the smallest, most intimate and largest that his mom-in-law controls. They assure him that it is not his fault. And even if it is, that's fine. Mistakes happen.

Very quickly, other ecosystems – lawyers, cops, college administration, the power of money – merge to protect it. And somewhere in these overlapping ecosystems is the strangely indulgent principal of colleges, Dr. Roy (Kunal Vijaykar). There is something very scary about his friendly gossip and laughter as he chairs the cruelest joke of the entire Internal Complaints Committee.

Guiltys the main objective, with regard to the plot, is not only to unravel what happened that night, but also on another student, a woman who is constantly called "special", a problem child, whose creativity and radiance are the reason why she is always so emotional, always exaggerating her feelings.

Intertwined with the story of Tanus is the story of a woman who treated her demons in her own way. She is dedicated to protecting VJ, and yet the story of Tanu triggers something in her.

Guilty is an important film that has some flaws, including an unforgivable continuity in the key scene of the film. Since the film is produced by Karan Johar, I am shocked that he let this huge boo-boo pass.

That said,Guiltyis also very cleverly written even if at the end it goes Bollywood filmi.

Her understanding of sexual abuse, how women treated it before and after MeToo and how and why the movement developed, triggering one woman after another, is a feat for our apolitical Bollywood. Especially since Bollywood has tried and is always doing its best to protect all of its men accused of sexual abuse, even rape.

It is very interesting to see how the film chose to show Tanu as a sexual woman from a small town who puts herself there, motivated by her desire and openly pursues men and sex, but consensual. Its characterization questions the notion and our need for a perfect victim.

Guiltystands with Tanu like a good activist, but his heart is really with Nanki, the girl who looks more like us.

Kiara Advani embodies in Nanki at least two characters: the special child, the bubbly genius, the rebel, the scholar Rhodes, the perfect girlfriend. And over time, as she is forced to throw away some of these protective cloaks and has to deal with her own vulnerability, we see her true self.

Kiara is quite fabulous and holds the film despite the fact thatGuiltyhas a set of very talented actors. Akansha Ranjan Kapoor doesn't have a lot of scenes, but she is very good and very powerful. Gurfateh Singh Pirzada and Kunal Vijaykar are good, Manu Rishi and Niki Walia quite memorable, and Taher Shabbir, as the moral force of the film, quite stunning.

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