27 February,2026 10:12 PM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
Still from Accused
Accused got me confused. And not just for the female protagonist, accused by multiple, anonymous sources for sexual misconduct at the workplace. But the film itself, which looks at female predatory behaviour.
For, how do you explain a movie subversively observing a supposed #SheToo, for lack of a better term - when there hasn't been a single, mainstream Hindi picture that I can think of, shining a harsh, full-frontal light on the infinitely more common, male misdemeanours in professional environments, yet?
That is, ever since what got exposed as the #MeToo movement, gaining momentum in the US, late 2017; and in India, a year later.
There've been a few, fine Hollywood movies/series (She Said; Bombshell; The Loudest Voice). Even Malayalam has a great one (Attam). None in Hindi, still.
Think of it as how Bollywood had a zombie-comedy (Go Goa Gone) as a send-up/parody of a genre, before there was a proper zombie-movie (in the western sense)!
Well, you do you. No knock. I can hazard an uneducated guess on how this pic could've come about.
Perhaps the writers onboard (Sima Agarwal, Yash Keswani; either), or anyone associated with this film's origins, pitched a script about #MeToo accusations that could potentially turn out to be false.
That being the running mystery. And what such allegations could do to someone in the world of social media that's essentially interested in making villains - rather than seeking the truth, about any such cases.
For all you know, those being briefed felt, well, why not switch the lead's gender, which might make it safer, if not more novel? Here's the rub, though.
I agree, it sounds bizarre - whether or not at the workplace, there's no Indian criminal law that can net a woman for being a sexual predator, harasser, stalkerâ¦.
This story's set in the UK, while probably shot in Poland. Konkona Sensharma plays an ambitious doctor, moving up a predominantly male ladder, at her hospital/medical profession. Her steady girlfriend (Pratibha Rannta), she plans to adopt a baby with, belongs to the same field.
Frankly, there's barely a backstory to these leads for you to care for either. Besides, of course, for what's happening to them, in the immediate present.
As in, Konkona's character's been MeToo-ed multiple times at a go. Her young, insecure partner's just as baffled by it all. To jog your hazy memory, you saw Pratibha last as the rural girl in Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies - making her role, a pretty inspired casting against type.
Konkona, given her own cred, bears an innate capacity to seem convincing, even when there isn't so much conviction in the script per se. She's the reason I switched on this film; or sat through the suspense to its severely bumbling end!
This direct-to-Netflix flick has been produced by Dharma/Karan Johar. That's possibly why, the first thing that strikes you about it is the unexpectedly amateurish Star TV type quality or look/feel of the production, that reminds you more of the deliberately downgraded television-movies from back in the day!
It's directed by Anubhuti Kashyap, who debuted with such a decent Doctor G, about a male gynaec, played by Ayushmann Khurrana; sadly, soon after the pandemic (2022), when audiences had begun to deem Ayushmann's quirky pix as unfit for theatres.
Accused feels unique by way of wholly normalising a lesbian relationship. You watch it as a mystery rather than an LGBT movie. Is it so hard to simply switch the gaze, and enjoy it for its own worth?
I tried. It feels too frickin' fake, between Bhargav, Rahul, Natasha, Meera, Geetika etc, in their desi accents, dishing out a totally contextless movie, amongst each other, from London.
