Is Article 375 A ‘Shiny’ Example Of MeToo?

Ajay Bahl who directed the  startling sexually charged unorthodox feature   BA Pass in 2012  is back  with another  eyebrow-raising  film  . Sex is  a predominant factor in Bahl’s  new  film Article  375  as well. Here  a  film director ,played  by  Rahul Bhat (seen recently in  the  title  role in Sudhir Mishra’s  Das Dev)  stands accused  of  rape.

The  buzz in the  film industry is that  Article 375 is  inspired  by  the allegation of rape against actor Shiny Ahuja,  though   Ajay Bahl and the  film’s producer  Kumar Mangat deny it.

Says Ajay,  “Our story  is  different.  When Kumar Saab came to me with  the script I could immediately sense  the  immediacy  and  the  topicality  of it.There are bound to certain similarities between our subject and similar cases including the one mentioned by you(Shiny) because we are dealing with the  issue of  consensual sex versus rape within the  Hindi film  industry.”

Ajay’s  first  film  BA Pass was an uncompromising  look at  a young male escort’ssexual   exploits with  Delhi’s housewives.

What  took Ajay so long to return to direction?

“I guess I was waiting for  the  right subject and  the  right people to back it. In-between I  started a film . But I  opted out as  I couldn’t see  eye to eye with the  producers. Article 375 is the  kind of subject  I  believe in. My  producers  let me  make the  film the way I wanted  without compromise,” says Ajay.