Film

Newton

Name: Newton
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2017
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav, Mukesh Prajapati

Political drama

Newton is a deadpan comedy about bureaucratic absurdity colliding with reality. A dutiful government clerk is sent to conduct elections in a Maoist-controlled jungle, armed with nothing but procedure and naive idealism. It's a film that finds profound humour in the gap between how the world should work and how it actually does—funny, sharp, and quietly devastating about institutions that fail the people they're meant to serve.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy dry, observational comedy that finds its laughs in a stubborn, rule-bound idealist colliding with a world that has stopped caring, and don't mind the humour cooling into unease.

Skip it if you want brisk plot momentum or an escalating thriller; this moves at a deliberate, ambling pace and most of its pleasures are in small frictions rather than set pieces.

What it asks of you: At about 106 minutes it runs lean, but its rhythm is unhurried, and the humour arrives drily, so you must stay with it.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Pather Panchali1955

The foundational Indian film about ordinary people navigating impossible circumstance. Like Newton, it finds tragedy and grace in the margins of society, and prizes observation over sentiment. Essential cinema.

But Shot in 1950s Bengal in black and white, paced by the rhythm of daily life rather than plot momentum. Requires patience and surrender.

Article 152019

Another film about a government servant trying to do the right thing against a system designed not to. Taapsee Pannu and Ayushmann Khurrana navigate institutional indifference with hard-earned moral clarity. Sharp and angry.

But The tone shifts from satire to procedural drama. Less funny than Newton, more determined to make you uncomfortable.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro1983

Kundera-esque satire about two photographers caught between crime, corruption, and bureaucracy in Delhi. Wildly inventive, genuinely hilarious, and constructed like a conspiracy box—each reveal unfolds perfectly.

But The print quality varies. It's also long (nearly three hours) and the comedy requires you to follow logic across an absurdly complicated plot.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Newton

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya2019

Both films treat their protagonists' stubborn integrity as faintly comic, but the comedy serves a larger observation about how systems crush individuality. The absurdity is structural, not situational.

A Macedonian film about a woman who jumps into a river during a religious ceremony and refuses to leave, triggering a standoff with authorities. Like Newton, it's about an individual refusing to accept the system's logic, told with deadpan absurdism and unexpected warmth.

But Very small, very dry. The premise sounds quaint but the implications deepen into something uncomfortable. Requires you to sit with confusion.

The Salesman2016

Asghar Farhadi's film about a man navigating Iranian bureaucracy and crime after his apartment is burglarized. Like Newton, it examines how individuals try to maintain principle within systems indifferent to fairness.

But A slow-burn drama, not a comedy. The emotional weight accumulates quietly and can feel deliberately withholding.

Rang De Basanti2006

Aamir Khan's ensemble about young people trying to change a broken system. It has Newton's anger at institutional failure, though it channels it into more conventional uplift. Earnest, energetic, well-crafted.

But The second half pivots toward action-thriller mode and becomes more conventional. Some of its idealism has dated awkwardly.

The White Tiger2021

A contemporary black comedy about corruption and self-interest in modern India. Adarsh Gourav gives a sly, charismatic performance as a man gaming a rigged system. Sharp writing about complicity and survival.

But The protagonist is morally compromised in ways that might alienate viewers looking for a hero. The tone is cynical rather than sympathetic.

Badhaai Ho2018

A comedy about a middle-class family confronting modern reality. Lighter than Newton, but it shares a gift for finding humanity in ordinary people navigating social systems designed to constrain them.

But The tone is gentler and more mainstream. If you're seeking Newton's edge and moral sharpness, this will feel safer and smaller.

The Insult2017

Both films use formal procedures (elections, trials) as a crucible that reveals how systems fail their own logic. The comedy in both comes from watching people try to follow rules that were never designed to work.

A Lebanese courtroom drama about a minor insult that explodes into a legal nightmare. Like Newton, it's about bureaucratic process becoming a grotesque theatre where logic collapses and everyone loses. Tense, witty, unbearably smart.

But Primarily a dialogue-driven legal thriller. No action, no relief, just argument and principle grinding against each other. Can feel airless.

A Prophet2009

Both films are about protagonists who believe in fairness confronting institutions where fairness is not the mechanism. Both are ultimately about knowledge as survival, and about the cost of that knowledge.

Jacques Audiard's film about a young man learning to survive prison by understanding its hidden rules and hierarchies. Like Newton, it's about someone finding their way through a system by grasping how it actually operates versus how it claims to.

But A prison film—brutal, sometimes graphically violent, with no sentimentality. Longer than Newton and structured as slow institutional education rather than comic observation.