Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Dr. Geetika is a successful queer doctor, ready for a big promotion and expansion of her family with wife Dr Meera in the UK. However, when Dr. Geetika is accused of sexual harassment through an anonymous email, her life turns upside down, putting both her professional and personal life at risk.
Directed by Anubhuti Kashyap, Accused opens with a tense, dramatic sequence that introduces Dr. Geetika (Konkona Sen Sharma) rushing into an emergency surgery after a colleague botches an operation and urgently needs her expertise. Unfortunately, the impact of the scene is undercut by a poorly delivered performance from a minor character, who is sent to summon the doctor, and their flat line readings dilute the intended urgency.
While Geetika is forced to extend her shift just as she prepares to leave, her wife Meera, played by Pratibha Ranta, known for Laapataa Ladies, waits patiently at home, hosting a gathering to celebrate Geetika’s promotion and their decision to adopt a child. The joy is short-lived. The very next day, the couple’s world is upended when she is accused of sexual misconduct at work.
Within the landscape of mainstream Bollywood cinema, the premise obviously stands out as distinctly fresh. The story examines the ramifications of a woman accused of sexual predation, while also portraying the dynamics of a queer marital relationship.
As a successful senior medical professional, Dr. Geetika is frequently too consumed by work to attend family gatherings, social get-togethers, or even arrive on time to her own house party. Her repeated absences begin to plant seeds of doubt in Meera’s mind. Is she truly overwhelmed at the hospital, or is something else demanding her attention? Like an ex-girlfriend. Or a junior colleague? The questions warranted when Meera catches Geetika lying on multiple occasions.
The film unfolds as an emotional thriller, making viewers wonder whether Geetika is a predator hiding behind her ‘reputation’, or the target of a calculated smear campaign. Portrayed as a strict, temperamental, and often abrasive senior doctor with a reputation for people quitting under her, Dr. Geetika certainly has no shortage of colleagues who might bear a grudge against her. A slew of disgruntled ex-girlfriends only make the list bigger. As the hospital launches an internal inquiry into the anonymous allegations, Geetika races against time to clear her name.
A parallel sub-plot focuses on Dr Meera hiring a private investigator to find out the truth, even though she largely seems to be on her wife’s side. Now this isn’t a romance, so there aren’t enough scenes to establish if there is any onscreen chemistry between Konkona Sen Sharma and Pratibha Ranta, instead, there’s only an awkward tension between them as their personal relationship hits a rough patch.
Konkona Sen Sharma’s performance as Dr Geetika keeps things intriguing in ‘Accused’. For most of the runtime, one truly cannot decide if she is capable of being a predator. The doctor comes across as the type who is quite capable of misusing her power to mistreat others or simply take advantage of her position. She is shifty, shady, arrogant, paranoid and reacts in ways which raise more suspicion than trust.
Pratibha Ranta is quietly affecting as a young doctor still hiding her marriage from her family back home. ‘Accused’ traces her gradual, anxious steps toward coming out, even as she is forced to confront the growing #MeToo storm surrounding her wife. That said, the writers makes a puzzling choice in having her repeatedly confide in and linger around a male colleague whose romantic feelings for her are painfully obvious. It’s a detail that feels unnecessary, underdeveloped, and forced upon.
The first half hour of ‘Accused’ is very entertaining and keeps one guessing if the anonymous allegations are legitimate. Too bad that the climactic twist completely scuttles the overall impact of the story. The writers deliver a contrived, safe, and preachy ending, overstretching the last half hour with a trite sermon on abuse of power.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘Accused’ on Netflix.
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