Taapsee Pannu’s Assi Review 2026: A Courtroom Drama Full of Clichés

Taapsee Pannu’s Assi Movie Plot

Parima (Kani Kusruti) is a school teacher living in a city with her husband, Vinay (Mohd Zeeshan Aayub), and son, Dhruv (Advik Jaiswal). A colleague’s retirement party is held at her school, which lasts until late at night. After the party, Parima takes the metro to reach her home, and after getting off at the metro station, she is abducted by a group of friends and pushed into their car. 

For the next 2 hours, she is assaulted by that group of boys, after which they throw her near a railway track and run away. In the morning, she is found unconscious and injured by people nearby, who take her to the hospital. The cops (Rajendra Sethi), Sanjay (Jatin Goswami) and ASI Vanita begin their investigation. 

At the same time, Vinay works with Kartik (Kumud Mishra), and the latter’s good friend is Raavi (Taapsee Pannu), a lawyer. Despite being in a serious condition herself, Raavi takes up the case and reaches Parima, who explains what happened to her. Soon, the criminals are arrested while the case goes on trial, where the culprits lie to be freed. 

Additionally, Parima is unable to identify the rapists during the identification parade, which also goes against her in court. The DNA samples of the rapists don’t match as well, and hence, the rapists are granted bail. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Anubhav Sinha’s Touch: Lost and Not Found

In the last few years, Anubhav Sinha has built a reputation for tackling issues rooted in India, such as Article 370, Mulk, and Thappad. While he has seen an equal number of failures and successes with such movies, Assi feels we have had enough of them for now, as they feel very preachy rather than organic.

A Container Full of Subplots

The story of the film mashes together every subplot Anubhav Sinha and Gaurav Solanki could have thought of, which includes family drama, an unknown man bringing justice to the needy in the dark, corruption, women suffering from patriarchy, a female lawyer against a male lawyer in the courtroom, and a female judge delivering justice.

With the barrage of subplots he has shown in the movie, none is done proper justice to. Only if the story had actually turned out to be hard-hitting, these tropes that we have seen thousands of times in Bollywood films may have been accepted. But rather, all of this has made the film turn out to be just a desire fulfilled for Anubhav, who seems to be on a challenge to make the most relevant movie to feminists possible.

Pace is Running in a Marathon

A great problem lies in the film’s narrative, which seems to be running a marathon of ending the film. The writing team has explored many plot points, but has not actually let the audience feel them. Consider a buffet appearing in front of you but disappearing as soon as you pick up the spoon.

Additionally, the intentions behind several actions by leading characters and their behaviour lack any explanation, which is a major missing pillar, making the film fall. 

Just a Good Enough First Half

The bit of appreciation that Taapsee Pannu’s Assi movie deserves is due to its first half, when it is just setting up the characters. Though the pacing is uneven throughout, the film does a good job of introducing the lead characters and explaining why they are important to the story. 

The Second Half Gone Entirely Wrong

As the film, and particularly the second half, nears its climax, it loses control of emotions that are a must to treat the audience with on the ending of a court case. Besides, several scenes meant to connect with the audience’s hearts turn out to be repetitive and overly preachy, rather than something that naturally occurs in a story.

The Courtroom Needs Justice in Treatment

As you would expect from a poorly made film, the courtroom scenes that are central to a film of this genre turn out to be very boring when you leave aside a few expectations. Neither in the start nor in the end do the courtroom argument scenes and speeches hold you to your seat. However, there are still some exceptions where the courtroom scenes actually help make the film better.

Drama Turned Into Superhero Film

The most ridiculous subplot one could think of in such a film is that of a vigilante, trying to bring justice to people like Parima in the city. Rather than focusing on courtroom drama and introducing a new character out of nowhere, delivering instant justice would have been a better choice.

Additionally, this Batman or Daredevil inspiration could have been a whole plot explored in a new film in hopes of creating something like Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, but sadly, Anubhav Sinha already has a poor experience with superhero movies (yes, we are talking about Ra. One).

The Great Assi Cast Performances

The Assi cast has done a great job on the overall front, which drives our Assi rating.

Taapsee Pannu excels in her role, having made her reputation with such female-centric movies, and Assi is an example of why she carries that reputation perfectly.

As of Kani Kasruti, she is a package of emotions and carries the film equally as great as Taapsee Pannu, being the second female lead of the Assi movie.

Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub is fine enough as Kani’s on-screen husband and carries his unconventional character of the man of the house very well.

Some special appearances which turn out to be just impressive are those of Naseeruddin Shah, Supriya Pathak, and Seema Pahwa.

Among the other actors, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, and Revathy successfully hold their own, just as expected from such experienced actors. 

The Technical Aspects of Assi

The technical aspects are elements Anubhav Sinha has made a well-enough use of, like the BGM, cinematography, and production design. 

The cinematography is good enough for the film, and the production design, along with the costumes throughout, feel authentic. Additionally, the action, which spans a considerable number of scenes in the film, feels realistic, as you might see in real life or hear in the news. 

Among the few poor technical aspects of the film are its very average editing and poor songs, Mann Hawa and Maai Meri. However, the background score used throughout the film is good.

Our Final Thoughts

On the whole, Assi is a compilation of generic dramatic tropes that have been produced for years and years but finally reach their saturation point with Taapsee Pannu new film due to their undercooked treatment. 

As of our overall Assi (2026) review, in case the film was good but had poor marketing, it could have gained exposure on Assi OTT release date, but due to the overall poor results, there is nothing worth watching or remembering about this typical courtroom drama, which can be deciphered from our whole review as well as the Assi IMDb rating.

Stay tuned to Inside Box Office for future Assi box office collection updates, along with trustworthy movie reviews and collection reports for upcoming Bollywood and South Indian movies.