All posts tagged: Assi

Assi: Anubhav Sinha reminds us why the Dhurandhar-fication of society is not a real solution | Opinion-entertainment News

Assi: Anubhav Sinha reminds us why the Dhurandhar-fication of society is not a real solution | Opinion-entertainment News

Cinema, more often than not, is a reflection of the times we live in. It is said that when Salim-Javed were churning out one hit after another in the 1970s with the ‘angry young man’, the society was going through a phase of extreme unrest and wished for a ‘hero’ who would fight against the unjust system that worked against the honest, hard-working common man. In the current scenario, films like Dhurandhar are somewhat reflective of the times we are living in. The politics of the film might divide the audience, but one can’t deny that the idea of ‘naya Hindustan’, revenge, and ‘ghar mein ghuske maarenge’ has been so deeply ingrained in the minds of the audience via different forms of media that when they watch something like Dhurandhar, they believe that ‘badla’ is the only way forward. But, is revenge justice? And is that idea of justice even just? Assi explores this Dhurandhar-fication of justice and bluntly asks, ‘Is committing a murder a valid form of justice?’, and this question has only one …

‘Assi has the least cheese’: Anubhav Sinha defends his ‘uncompromising’ film, says 1.2 mn viewers braved its ‘disturbing’ reality | Bollywood News

‘Assi has the least cheese’: Anubhav Sinha defends his ‘uncompromising’ film, says 1.2 mn viewers braved its ‘disturbing’ reality | Bollywood News

It’s been nearly a decade since the world saw a different side of Anubhav Sinha with his courtroom drama Mulk, which took on entrenched communalism head-on. Since then, he has gone on to make films like Article 15, Thappad, Anek, and Bheed, each engaging with the social and political anxieties of our times. It is fair to say that, across these years of balancing what one might call a cinema of conscience, he may have arrived at a certain creative equilibrium with his latest, Assi. A courtroom drama of sorts, the film deals with the subject of rape with a starkness that is often unsettling, at times even heavy-handed, but undeniably urgent in what it seeks to confront. The decision to place a younger generation at the centre of trauma, and to interrogate ideas of vigilante justice while also examining the patriarchal structures that underpin them, makes it a film that demands attention. In a spoiler-filled, post-mortem conversation about the film, Sinha speaks exclusively to SCREEN about key scenes, the balance between artistic integrity and …

Anubhav Sinha’s Assi puts kids in the front row of trauma and trial, refuses to look away | Opinion-entertainment News

Anubhav Sinha’s Assi puts kids in the front row of trauma and trial, refuses to look away | Opinion-entertainment News

Anubhav Sinha’s Assi is an uncomfortable watch — and it is meant to be. The film announces its intentions in its title. The title means 80, a reference to the approximately 80 rapes reported in India every day. The film follows the brutal assault of Parima, a school teacher in Delhi played by Kani Kusruti, and the legal battle that follows, led by Advocate Raavi, played by Taapsee Pannu. Beyond its central premise of a brutal sexual assault and the legal battle that follows, the film does not merely depict violence; it exposes the ecosystem that enables it. But beyond the courtroom drama and its sharp social commentary, the film makes a choice no one expects — the persistent, deliberate, impossible-to-ignore presence of children. In most films dealing with sexual violence and trauma, children are kept at a careful distance — as if their absence can preserve some illusion of innocence. Assi rejects that instinct completely. Here, children are not shielded. They are made to witness. Their presence in spaces like court hearings feels deeply …

What to watch on OTT: Assi, Matka King and others | Web-series News

What to watch on OTT: Assi, Matka King and others | Web-series News

4 min readApr 20, 2026 10:13 AM IST What to watch on OTT: Anubhav Sinha-directed Assi & Vijay Varma-starrer Matka King, here’s a list of recent OTT releases. Assi Zee5 Directed by Anubhav Sinha, Assi is a hard-hitting courtroom drama, Assi follows a lawyer (Taapsee Pannu) who takes on a brutal rape case, confronting not just the crime but the systemic apathy surrounding it. In a striking moment, the film underscores a grim reality—nearly 80 rape cases reported in a single day—amplifying the urgency of its narrative. It traces the journey of a survivor and her partner (Kani Kusruti and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), whose lives are shattered by violence, as they navigate trauma, societal judgment, and an unforgiving legal system. Assi features an ensemble cast including Revathy, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Naseeruddin Shah, Supriya Pathak, and Seema Pahwa. It will be available for streaming from April 17. Beef S2Netflix Beef returns with a new cast and a new beef, as a Gen Z couple witnesses an alarming fight between their millennial boss and his wife. …

Assi vs Mardaani 3: The grammar of rage in the era of hypermasculine cinema | Bollywood News

Assi vs Mardaani 3: The grammar of rage in the era of hypermasculine cinema | Bollywood News

To speak of contemporary cinema is, by now, to state the obvious. Hypermasculinity has become its native tongue; vengeance its most fluent expression. The first quarter of 2026 has drawn to a close, and if numbers are taken as the sole measure, an argument parochial in its own right, two titles stand unchallenged: Border 2 and Dhurandhar: The Revenge. They differ in detail, but share a deeper grammar. The iconography persists: bloody, bearded men, armed with xenophobia. And yet, there emerged two films that chose another direction. Again, distinct in method, but allied in intent, they turned their gaze towards women’s agency in a system rigged by patriarchy. One, Mardaani 3, a franchise extension backed by the industry’s most formidable machinery, anchored by Rani Mukerji, directed by Abhiraj Minawala. The other, Assi, saw Anubhav Sinha reunite with his frequent collaborators, Taapsee Pannu and screenwriter Gaurav Solanki, shaping a narrative that moves within the contours of a courtroom drama, though it resists easy classification. No room for restraint At first inspection, the two films appear to …

Assi Box Office (Closing Collection): Taapsee Pannu Starrer Suffers Deficit Of Over 38 Crore

Assi Box Office (Closing Collection): Taapsee Pannu Starrer Suffers Deficit Of Over 38 Crore

Assi Box Office (Closing Collection) (Photo Credit: T-Series) Taapsee Pannu starrer Assi has concluded its box office run. Anubhav Sinha‘s directorial witnessed a disappointing journey, right from the beginning. The Bollywood courtroom drama could not even recover 50% of its total investments. Scroll below for the closing collection! How much did Assi earn in India? According to the final update, Assi earned 11.42 crore at the domestic box office. It witnessed a 4-week-long run, although the footfalls remained on the lower end. Word of mouth remained lukewarm, and competition from Border 2, Do Deewane Seher Mein, Mardaani 3, and O’Romeo further made the journey challenging. Assi also failed to enter the top 10 highest-grossing films of Taapsee Pannu in India. It needed a minimum of 32 crore to beat Thappad and find a spot on the list. Take a look at the detailed box office breakdown in India (net collection): Week 1: 6.95 crore Week 2: 2.63 crore Week 3: 1.17 lakh Week 4: 67 lakh Total: 11.42 crore Assi is a box office flop! …

Pahal Samyani talks about box office failure of her Bollywood debut Assi

Pahal Samyani talks about box office failure of her Bollywood debut Assi

Actress Pahal Samyani has garnered critical acclaim for her role as Shweta, an airhostess who is the sister of the rapist, in the Taapsee Pannu-starrer Assi. She talks to mid-day about her experience on set, landing her Bollywood debut and her disappointment with the film`s poor box-office performance in an exclusive conversation. `Mukesh Chhabra pushed me to do Assi` Speaking about how she got into acting, Pahal states that she has been doing theatre since childhood, which fuelled her passion to pursue acting in Bollywood. The Dubai-born actress said, “Back in Dubai, I used to do theatre since the age of 8 or 9. Since then, I always knew that I wanted to come to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting.” “And so I came to Mumbai in July 2024. And in December 2024, I did a workshop with casting director Mukesh Chhabra, who is like my mentor. He essentially told me that I should start working with him and help him out in casting, workshops and a whole bunch of things. Since then, he`s …

Assi Final Box Office Collections: Taapsee Pannu and Anubhav Sinha’s courtroom drama flops with Rs 10 crore closing

Assi Final Box Office Collections: Taapsee Pannu and Anubhav Sinha’s courtroom drama flops with Rs 10 crore closing

Assi, directed by Anubhav Sinha and starring Taapsee Pannu, Kani Kusruti, Revathy, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and others, has almost exhausted its theatrical run at the box office. The courtroom drama opened with Rs. 1 crore and went on to collect around Rs. 6.50 crore nett in its opening week.  It further witnessed a sharp decline in the second week, when it netted around Rs. 2.45 crore. The movie hit a new low in the third week, minting just Rs. 90 lakh, of which around Rs. 70 lakh came in the weekend only. That took its total cume to Rs. 9.85 crore nett in India.  Though the movie has one more week of free run, the low-level of daily collections suggests that the movie won’t be able to go much further. Based on the current trends, Assi is looking for a finish at just Rs. 10 crore nett or so at the Indian box office. This is around 1/3rd of what the previous collaboration of Taapsee Pannu and Anubhav Sinha, Thappad, collected at the …

Assi Box Office Collections: Taapsee Pannu’s courtroom drama adds Rs 70 lakh in 3rd weekend, nears theatrical end

Assi Box Office Collections: Taapsee Pannu’s courtroom drama adds Rs 70 lakh in 3rd weekend, nears theatrical end

Assi, directed by Anubhav Sinha and starring Taapsee Pannu in the lead role, added Rs. 70 lakh to the tally in its third weekend, with Rs. 25 lakh coming on Sunday. The courtroom drama took its total cume to Rs. 9.65 crore nett at the Indian box office in its 17 days of theatrical run.  Bankrolled by Benaras Mediaworks and T-Series Films, Assi is looking to wind up its entire theatrical run very soon, with the arrival of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge. Based on the current trends, the Taapsee Pannu starrer is expected to close its box office journey at the Rs. 10-11 crore nett mark. With such a disappointing theatrical performance, the Anubhav Sinha directorial turned out to be a flop at the box office. That said, the business of such small/mid-sized movies has gone down severely in the post-pandemic times. Audience now prefers to watch such movies which zero to no anticipation on digital platforms only, as they now have patience enough to wait for 8 weeks. The makers need to disrupt this patience …

Catalysts, love interests or aids in adulting – This Women’s Day, can we hope Hindi cinema allows for more equality on the big screen? | Bollywood News

Catalysts, love interests or aids in adulting – This Women’s Day, can we hope Hindi cinema allows for more equality on the big screen? | Bollywood News

Every year on 8th March, we celebrate International Women’s Day. I did a little digging to understand why, and it turns out that this day has its origins in Europe, Russia and America. The date and its significance developed over a period of time, inspired by the universal female suffrage movement, the role women played in the Russian Revolution, and an increasing number of women demanding attention on issues like equal pay, the right to vote and the right to dignity and safety. Even in India, on this day, we see a lot of content online and in publications celebrating women, referring to them as Durga, Lakshmi, and superheroes who don’t wear capes. Interestingly, in less than a fortnight after we celebrate Women’s Day this year, comes a big-budget film that celebrates masculinity in its most aggressive form. Dhurandhar Part 2, which releases on March 19, promises to tell a violent, blood-soaked tale where hirsute, muscular men use brute force to meet their goals, while the women remain firmly in the background. In Dhurandhar Part …