Kumud Mishra on ‘that’ caste sequence from Article 15: ‘No one is more rac than us…’| Scene Stealer

To make a political film in India, or to make a ‘simple’ movie and ground it in real time and place is increasingly becoming a dangerous thing. While films from other regions still manage to subtly convey their truths (be it a Nayattu or Jalikattu), Hindi cinema or Bollywood, hardly takes any chances with its content in that sense, at least that has been the general criticism against the film industry for a while now. However, there have been a few occasions when some filmmakers have been brave enough to push the envelope.
With 2019 release Article 15, director Anubhav Sinha did something similar. Yes, the feature is whitewashed because the hero (played a wonderful Ayushmann Khurrana) IPS Ayan Ranjan, is an ‘upper caste’ male who gets to walk away with most of the big scenes in the film, but the fact that it still is a solid movie cannot be taken away from its creators. Anubhav had earlier mentioned during an interview with the Film Companion why he chose his hero to be from the social background that he is. Explaining that it was what he called ‘cheese’ factor (a compromise essentially) in films, the director said that there’s no point in preaching to the converted. making his hero an easily digestible figure, making him familiar, he used other things in his movie to make his case about caste.

One of the best decisions the makers of Article 15 was its cast. From Ayushmann’s central figure to talented artes like Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Sayani Gupta, Nassar and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub; the narrative penned Gaurav Solanki and Anubhav came to life because of these talents. Speaking about a pivotal moment in the movie when Ayushmann’s character openly discusses his subordinates’ castes, actor Kumud Mishra told that the otherwise intense scene has an unexpected and welcome comic angle to it.

“It comes in the writing, which comes with a lot of colour. With good writing, you can interpret a single scene in myriad ways. The bit that you are talking about, could have been performed seriously, since the subject is caste, the characters could have shown hints of self-pity or anger (in their attitude),” said Kumud. So why take that risky route? The actor said that it was the director’s choice to have Kumud Mishra’s Kisan Jatav respond with a meek ‘Okay, sir’ when Ayushmann yells at the lot using an expletive.
“The most effective tool to convey these things is humour. And if it is used correctly, it can work wonders. That thing which you are trying to convey gets underlined because of that comedic effect,” the actor explained.

But to ‘become’ that person was no easy feat. Kumud said that it took him some time to get into the skin of his character, primarily because of where he comes from in real life and the society as we know it: “I am a Brahmin and I am fair, unlike the so-called lower caste Jatav whose complexion and demeanour is starkly different from Kumud’s. So I couldn’t easily adapt to what was written for me. But the research came from the society itself. This (casteism) happens in a big city like Mumbai too. The way we treat those we employ, our driver, househelps or workers, there can be no bigger example than that. No one is more rac than us, we are rac in percentages and shades.”
But if you are thinking that shooting Article 15 was an emotionally and physically gruelling task, you would be surprised with Kumud Mishra’s answer. “It was such a fun set, the discussions were not very intense, because we were all aware of this world that the film portrayed. It was a very enriching experience,” the actor concluded.
Article 15 is available to stream on Netflix.