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Newton turns an election assignment into a sharply observed black comedy about the distance between democratic procedure and the realities of the people it is meant to serve. Rajkummar Rao gives the film its steady center as an earnest clerk trying to conduct a free and fair poll in a remote village in central India, where danger, bureaucracy and local skepticism all complicate the task.
A polling station becomes a test of principle
Newton Kumar arrives determined to do his job by the rules. The remote polling station he is assigned to run, however, is not a neutral space: security personnel are weighing the risk of violence, official processes move with their own inertia, and the villagers have reasons to distrust or avoid an electoral event staged around them. The film’s central tension is not simply whether Newton can complete the procedure. It is whether procedure alone can deliver the participation it promises.
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That conflict gives the story its critical edge. Newton’s commitment to fairness is sincere, but it meets a situation that cannot be made fair merely by following instructions. The film sets his insistence against the security officer’s more pragmatic view of danger, without reducing either position to an easy answer. Nor does it treat the villagers as a backdrop to Newton’s moral test: their circumstances and skepticism make the official language of participation feel unsettled.
The setting matters. This is a fictional story about one remote village in central India, not a general account of elections across the country. Its pressure comes from the specific collision of an election procedure with the circumstances shown in the film.
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Rajkummar Rao anchors the film
Rao plays Newton with an earnestness that leaves room for humor without making the character a caricature. Tribeca’s 2017 programme praised the performance for balancing sincerity and humor and anchoring the surrounding characters. That balance is essential: Newton’s rigid sense of duty can be funny, but the film takes seriously what he believes is at stake.
Pankaj Tripathi plays Atma Singh, the security officer whose practical concerns challenge Newton’s rule-bound approach. Anjali Patil appears as Malko, and Raghubir Yadav as Loknath. The ensemble helps make the polling station feel like a place where people with different responsibilities and interests are forced into uneasy proximity, rather than a stage built solely for the lead character.
Deadpan comedy in uneasy surroundings
The comedy is dry and often grows out of waiting, irritation and the gap between official expectations and what is actually happening. The New Zealand International Film Festival described Newton as a “wry tragicomedy,” highlighting its deadpan humor, landscape and mutual irritation. That description captures the film’s method: the absurdity of the situation does not erase its risks.
The Berlinale Forum catalogue called the film “a black comedy about the pale spectre of democracy in dark times,” while the Jerusalem Film Festival described it as a “modern parable about the fragility of democracy.” These are festival framings, not tidy answers supplied by the story. The film’s force comes from leaving its tensions in view: idealism against risk, rules against improvisation, and the promise of a vote against the lived conditions surrounding it.
Rank #3
Release, runtime and recognition
Directed by Amit V. Masurkar and written by Masurkar and Mayank Tewari, Newton premiered in the Berlinale Forum on 10 February 2017. Tribeca listed it in its 2017 International Narrative Competition as a North American premiere. Drishyam Films gives the runtime as 104 minutes; the Berlinale Forum catalogue lists 106 minutes, so the most accurate shorthand is about 104–106 minutes.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards’ 2017 record lists wins for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Screenplay. Its displayed summary does not name the actor associated with the performance award, so the award should not be attributed to a specific performer on that basis alone.
Rank #4
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How critics and viewers have rated it
Rotten Tomatoes displayed a 94% Tomatometer from 18 critic reviews and an 80% Popcornmeter from 100+ ratings when accessed in 2026. These are changeable aggregator snapshots, not permanent measures of the film’s reception; the critic and audience figures also represent different groups and should not be read as directly equivalent.
Verdict
Newton is a focused, darkly funny film about the limits of good intentions when democratic ideals meet fear, bureaucracy and everyday realities. Rao’s measured performance gives its central dilemma a human scale, while Masurkar’s deadpan approach lets the humor and discomfort coexist. The result is less a celebration of procedure than a probing look at what procedure can—and cannot—guarantee.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio.
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