India, Nov. 5 -- The most affecting moment in Haq comes for me in a voiceover by Yami Gautam Dhar's Shazia Bano, who wonders aloud, "Biwi ka asli matlab kya hai?" It's a deceptively simple question that lingers, prompting us to rethink the everyday words we use so casually... words that, in our holy texts and legal system, might carry entirely different weights.

The subject chosen by director Suparn Varma has been mired in controversy ever since it was announced. Inspired by the landmark Shah Bano case, Haq takes on some thorny questions: secular law versus personal law, triple talaq, and the meaning of justice itself. Does it succeed?

The story, dramatised considerably, revolves around Shazia (Yami Gautam Dhar), a homely, uneducated wo...