Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who has co-produced courtroom drama Pink, says he decided to make this film after his wife, Jhuma, once told him that it’s “shameless” that we are talking about women’s empowerment in today’s modern times. For tabloid!’s review of Pink, click here.
“Pink is an everyday life story. Once there was one girl, who had called her friends at her place for a party in the night. Then other people in the society quipped that there is something wrong happening here. So Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury [director of Pink] narrated this story to me,” Sircar said at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday.
“I kept thinking for few days how we will make a film on this. Then my wife, Jhuma, once said to me when we were having tea that in today’s modern times, in the 21st century, we are talking about women’s empowerment, isn’t it shameless?”
“That thing stuck to my mind as I too have two daughters. From there we started making this film,” Sircar, who has directed films like Vicky Donor and Piku, added.
Sircar said that if women need to feel empowered than they need to stand with each other.
“If any woman stands by another woman, the revolution will happen. If all the women will stick together, nobody can stop you. If you will remain separated, men will come and take advantage,” he said.
The film, out in the UAE now, stars megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actors Taapsee Pannu, Angad Bedi, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang.
Sircar said after watching Pink, an 18-year-old girl came out of the theatre and got emotional.
“She was just choked. She said, ‘Today I will go home and say to my parents that what you have taught me is totally wrong’. Our idea was to represent what we see in everyday life. But if that one girl has got moved by this film, that is enough for me,” he said.
Apart from him, the star cast and the director of the film were also present during the event.
Pannu said the three leading ladies were very close on set. “We were told that you three are one. That’s how you have to go ahead. Not even once we should feel that you are three different people. We were one single entity because we were moving towards the same direction,” Taapsee said.
“Each one of us got affected with whatever happened to the other person. Together we could have larger impact upon the audience. We used to eat food together. I guess actresses can really be friends,” she added.
Asked what message he has got from the film, Angad Singh Bedi, who plays the antagonist in it, said: “What I have learnt from Pink is that men should not forget where they came from — that is from women. Women, they say that they have a very high emotional quotient.”
“But let’s not forget that they have the power to give birth to a child which a man doesn’t have. Women are superior and they will always be. Pink is more for men than it is for women.”
Kulhari, who is seen dating an older man in the film, said people should not look at the age of their partner as love doesn’t have any age limits.
“There are a lot of things in the society which are not accepted. There are a lot of protests happening on those things. What we have shown in the film is a relationship,” she said.
“There is a difference between their age. But I personally feel that love should not have any age limits. If the foundation of the relationship is strong, then I don’t think anybody should have a problem with that. I am no one to question anybody about relationships. Everyone has the right to love and live,” she added.
The film also stars Piyush Mishra.
