Aligarh

Ramchandra Siras is a professor of Marathi at Aligarh Muslim University. After a television crew enters his home in secret and films him with another man, the footage is broadcast and the university suspends him. Siras is put out of his housing, his phone is cut off, and he is left alone in the town. A young journalist comes to talk to him; trust builds slowly between them and the case goes to court. Hansal Mehta's film is based on real events. Siras was suspended in February 2010, a court stayed that decision in April, and a few days later, on 7 April 2010, he was found dead at home. The film places the invasion of privacy at the centre of the matter: what is under discussion is not who a person is but the making public of a question nobody had the right to ask. Manoj Bajpayee plays Siras and won a critics' award for the role. Rajkummar Rao plays the journalist. Who it's for: Viewers who like adaptations of real events, Indian independent cinema, and drama built around privacy. Who it's not for: The narrative moves slowly toward a ruin known from the start. Some scenes are hard to watch.