It is not a rape film: Anirudha Roychoudhury

Anirudha Roychoudhury

has been directing strong Bengali films for a decade now. He now ventures into Hindi cinema with Pink. Featuring Amitabh Bachchan, the film is a powerful exploration of female sexuality and sexual violation. Anirudha speaks about the film with

Subhash K. Jha

Pink is your first Hindi film. What took you so long to make the pan-India plunge

The shift to making a Bollywood film from regional cinema is always a meditated step. Factors such as an appropriate topic and theme, a good script and a producer who shares your vision are extremely important. I was fortunate to find all these elements with Shoojit and Ronnie.

What prompted you to take the plunge into Pink

While I shared many alternate thoughts with my producer Shoojit Sircar, this one excited Shoojit the most. Then on — we, that’s me, Ronnie, Shoojit and the writer Ritesh — sat together and the story evolved into something we are truly passionate about. Something that we’d like the audience to reflect and possibly debate about.

The film addresses the issue of rape and its nebulous interpretations by various agencies. How much research and brainstorming went into the film Well, firstly it is not a rape film. But yes, it involves women, law and our society’s morality. We did consult a varied team of legal experts, which helped shape our film. We have tried to bring forth the legalities that today’s youngsters seem to be quite unaware of.

Mr Bachchan feels very strongly about the scourge of sexual assault. Considering the theme, was the atmosphere on the sets grim We were well aware of the gravity of the subject we were dealing with and hence there was a seriousness towards the subject we were dealing with. Nonetheless, no creative work can happen in a grim environment It was an environment where we all learnt a lot.

How difficult/easy was it for you to direct Mr Bachchan What is your opinion about the recent work he has done Well, I had the fortune of working with him as a co-actor in Piku, and like most others, I loved his performance in it and in most of his other recent works. As a filmmaker I have long hoped to work with Mr Bachchan and this film gave me that dream opportunity. Mr Bachchan never made me feel that this was my first Hindi film, and it truly was a lifetime experience for me. Pink boasts of some outstanding young talented actors. How did you pick them Or did they get picked by the script Every film has its own destiny, and that’s what happened here as well. Tapsee of course was our first choice to begin with, having worked earlier with Rising Sun Films (Shoojit Sircar’s banner). The only thing I kept in mind is that I wanted to see my character in the said actor. Jogiji, Shoojit’s trusted casting director, and my direction team helped me put together this highly talented ensemble cast.

Pink is set in Delhi where crime against women is exceedingly high. As a filmmaker, do you think cinema has the power to remedy the situation in any way Yes, it is based in Delhi. Earlier I wanted to make this film in Bengali. Shoojit suggested that this film would be apt if we base it in Delhi as the incidents shown in the film very much exist in recent times. About cinema having the power to remedy the situation well, the hope is to make entertaining, engaging cinema. Within that process if we can encourage someone to think about such things, we’d be happy

Do you think the audience has an appetite for a film that throws unpleasant home truths in their face How would they react to Pink at a time when they enjoy Housefull 3 and Dishoom We are at a very interesting stage in India with respect to cinema right now where varied kinds of films are co-existing and working. On the one hand, a film like Housefull 3 and on the other Neerja, both have done well in the recent past. So yes, it’s a very interesting time to make films in India.