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This one’s about doctors, but it is not strictly a medical thriller, like a Coma or The Vaccine War back home. Dr. Geetika Sen (Konkona Sen Sharma), a renowned gynecologist and head of the department at Chapelstone General Hospital in London, is accused of professional violation—sexual misconduct—by an anonymous email.
Dr. Geetika Sen is respected for her skills and achievements but criticized for her strict and sometimes rude demeanor. She and her (same sex) married partner, Dr Meera Mishra (Pratibha Raanta), host a farewell party before relocating to Chester for Geetika’s promotion to Dean and announce plans to adopt a child.
As the accusations escalate—with four more anonymous ones coming in—the child adoption is rejected and Meera even suspects Geetika about the accusations, for Geetika has been concealing her meetings with her ex, Sophie (Kallirroi Tziafeta) and has become increasingly secretive and blunt.
The hospital appoints an external investigator, an ex-journalist, Jaideep Bhargav (Mashhoor Amrohi), and Meera’s friend, Angad (Aditya Nanda) even advises her to employ a private eye, Mansoor (Sukant Goel) to dig out facts. Geetika’s promotion is also stalled. The relationship between Meera and Geetika almost reaches disintegration point before things come to a head and get sorted in the predictable way.
Gripping and correctly-paced, the film skips issues like same-sex marriages but focuses on Geetika’s alleged sexual overtures. Hospital politics and more come in and the investigator has his own interesting findings, ditto the private eye.
Konkona Sen Sharma as Dr. Geetika is as usual competent and dominates the footage, but is completely outclassed by the earnest Pratibha Rannta as Meera. She is especially superb in her sequences where she is mystified, suspicious and yet pitiably vulnerable.
As Jaideep Bhargav Mashhoor Amrohi finetunes his performance to perfection, blending doubt, cynicism and reluctant admiration wonderfully. Aditya Nanda as Angad and Sukant Goel as Mansoor are very effective and I loved Monica Mahendru as Simran, Geetika’s assistant of sorts. Kalliroi Tziafeta is outstanding in the cameo as Sophie.
The writing (Sima Agarwal and Yash Keswani) tackles an intriguing subject and keeps it gripping and very real, without anything over-the-top. The medical atmosphere is kept dignified and nothing descends into melodrama. Director Anubhuti Kashyap (Anurag Kashyap’s sister) improves upon her debut in Doctor G. Technically excellent, I must mention the lovely camerawork by Linesh Desai.
This is a nice watch in the comfortable ambience of one’s home.
Rating: ***
Netflix presents Dharmatic Entertainment’s The Accused Produced by: Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra & Adar Poonawalla Directed by: Anubhuti Kashyap Written by: Sima Agarwal & Yash Keswani Music: Neel Adhikari Starring: Konkona Sen Sharma, Pratibha Rannta, Mashhoor Amrohi, Aditya Nanda, Sukant Goel, Monica Mahendru as Simran, Kalliroi Tziafeta, Christopher W Jones, Daniele Secondi, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Barbara Blum, Matylda McQuaid, Geeta Thakkar & others
