Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) is seemingly happily married to Vikram (Pavail Gulati). You see her taking care of him from the first shot itself -- she makes breakfast for him, files his important papers, gives him coffee to drink on the way and even brings him bed tea. She monitors her mother-in-law's (Tanvi Azmi) sugar levels as well, making sure she takes her medicines on time.

Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) is just another housewife who's living her family's dreams. Her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati) is just another husband who is stuck between what should be done and what he does. A focused businessman, Vikram is a loving husband to Amrita and they both plan to shift to the UK after his promotion.

Thappad is the story of a single slap. A blow to the cheek that Vikram, angry, frustrated, a little drunk, inflicts on his wife Amrita who is attempting to steer him away from an escalating conflict. This is an affluent Delhi home. Vikram is an ambitious, hardworking executive. Amrita is a cheerfully dutiful housewife. They seem snug in their respective roles. But that night brings into sharp focus the inequity of their relationship.

There is a fine line between making a film on a real story and making one that tells a real story. Taapsee Pannu starrer Thappad firmly falls in the latter category. A powerful and impactful film, Thappad makes you angry and uncomfortable, and, at the same time, it makes you question the everyday misogyny that you willingly 'adjust to' in real life.

When Raj Kapoor slaps Nargis non-stop on the beach in Awaara, she magnanimously offers, 'lo maar lo'. Minutes later, they are singing romantic duets on a boat. Everybody raves about their scorching chemistry. In Chachi 420, Tabu files for divorce against Kamal Haasan over a slap. But while she is made to look like a wealthy brat, her poor husband must daily don layers of prosthetic and work as a nanny to their daughter in her father's house.

Amrita's (Taapsee Pannu) world comes crumbling down when her fiercely ambitious husband, Vikram (Pavail Gulati), lands a mighty slap across the face at a party that was supposed to celebrate his success in the corporate world. Will Amrita, whose life so far has revolved around Vikram's needs, wants and dreams, stand up and speak up against this humiliation in public? Or will she brush it off as a one-off incident, forgive him and move on?

Scenes from this marriage: the newspaper is delivered. The morning alarm rings. Bed tea is served. Breakfast is laid out. The man of the house is packed off to work. The mother-in-law's blood sugar levels are monitored. The neighbour's daughter is given dance lessons. Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) slips into bed at night, and the next day is comfortingly the same.

Just a film? No. Anubhav Sinha's Thappad, as pointed as Mulk and Article 15 but markedly less dramatic, cuts close to the bone. It is likely to reverberate beyond the darkened movie halls where it plays. It has the potential to force audiences to pause and think and, hopefully, act. As you watch Thappad, you sense how efficacious cinema can be when it is pressed into the service of conversations that matter.

Anubhav Sinha's Thappad has a one-point agenda: you cannot slap a woman, and expect her to ignore it, and move on. You Can Not. That it has taken us until 2020 to say this out loud in a movie says a lot about our society, which sanctions all kinds of evil under the guise of our 'sabhyata' and 'maryada': if you are an 'adarsh bahu', as Amrita (Pannu) is, it is your job to check your elderly mother-in-law's blood sugar levels, supervise the kitchen, escort your husband (Gulati) to the car, and hand over his wallet, and packed lunch, as he busily moves off to earn a living.

Thappad, as the film's title so unambiguously suggests, is about a slap. A slap that an otherwise amiable, good-natured man lands on his wife's face in a moment of misdirected anger. In his defense, it is the first time he has raised his hand on her. In his defense, he has just found out that the professional goal he had nurtured, toiled hard for, and achieved, has been unfairly snatched away from him.

Amrita ((Taapsee Pannu) underlines the word 'routine' with her life as a housewife. She loves her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati), who is not willing to even put the alarm off in the morning. Amrita does that but before doing so, she has collected milk, picked the newspaper, made her black tea, watered the plants, cherished her solitary moment of sipping her morning tea, taking a pic, wishing good morning to her neighbor played by Dia Mirza with a smile.

Women who object to violence from their husbands get to hear these lines repeatedly, even when the man is a serial offender. If the protest is against infrequent physical abuse or a solitary episode, the volume of these degrading clichs rises manifold. In Thappad, Taapsee Pannu's character elicits variations of these responses from almost everyone around her.

Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) confines herself in a corner of the house, contemplating on what just happened. Hours before this, the same house was bustling with guests dancing to popular Punjabi tracks. And all that maddening noise just drowned under the deafening silence of a slap.

There is something about picking up the newpapers and milk bottles from the main doorway and brewing the morning cup of tea, with ginger and lemongrass thrown in and drinking it in a cherished moment of peace in the balcony before the rush of the day gets to consume you.

One Word Review... Thappad: POWERFUL. Anubhav Sinha makes a strong statement yet again. #Thappad asks uncomfortable questions, his best work so far... #Taapsee spectacular, even her silence speaks volumes. #PavailGulati terrific... Must watch! #ThappadReview