Finally here is a mainstream Hindi film that is interested in presenting the harsh truth of our society as it is without any holding back. A film that can easily be called a bold representative of today’s modern age woman, who unfortunately never got presented and talked about in such brutally honest manner in the last two decades of our Hindi cinema despite many young energetic writers and directors coming up with their fresh ideas and projects including the ones revolving around women oriented subjects (made by women directors only).So the fact certainly makes PINK a highly significant and path-breaking film of our times that deservingly needs to be supported by one and all, especially in the present scenario when many similar incidents are being reported almost every second day mocking at our social structure, internal security and amazing ‘blind eye attitude’ followed till the fire reaches our own household.
Having said that, though I am in complete support of the film and its brave, eye-opener presentation taking up a burning issue, PINK still has many major shortcomings in its characterizations and thus isn’t any perfect film for me, explained in the later part of the write-up, not in agreement with many fellow reviewers/writers, perhaps purposefully skipping or avoiding its visible drawbacks.
Also since the film has already been talked and read about a lot in the last couple of days, I would try to give you a distinctive write-up on PINK (a title probably used to represent girl-power) with less repetitions and references of many related awful instances experienced personally.
The Basic Format
It’s nothing less than an amazing, revealing truth that it took mainstream Hindi Cinema more than two long decades to adapt a bold, realistic court room drama revolving around shameless, questionable interrogation in a RAPE or MOLESTATION case post DAMINI released way back in 1993. No doubt, a couple of lesser known smaller films such as JAAGO (2004) and UNDERTRIAL (2007) were there in the last decade, many might not have even heard of. But the fact that they actually couldn’t find the courage to make any expressive court room drama from the woman’s perspective in particular, clearly and loudly says a lot about our suppressed thinking patterns, gender based biases and filmmakers losing their spine in the last two decades (as if the problem was completely solved and we didn’t need to take up the issue again disturbing the peace prevailing).
As a matter of fact, PINK follows the exact pattern of DAMINI wherein the avoidable incident happens in the first half building the tension (as a thriller) and the second half completely focuses on the court case trials with a known retired lawyer returning to the court fighting the victim’s case.
However accepting the incomparable status of both films and their respective directors, where DAMINI simply excelled in its intelligent amalgamation of a woman’s moral duty and her family responsibilities, PINK excels in its verbal depiction of the state we are actually living in supporting two different gender biased meanings of the word FREEDOM imposed on the young boys and girls.
Secondly where DAMINI was successfully able to reach even the common man of the smaller centers through all commercial elements brilliantly incorporated in its script without sacrificing the core message, PINK thoughtfully refuses to do the same and comes up as a strong message oriented film simply interested in focusing on the trauma faced by the three young girls after the ‘avoidable night out’ resulting in a terrible mess.
Also the way it showcases the usual suspicious treatment given to all independent working girls living in a rented flat together away from their home city, unarguably makes it a much more relevant and relatable explosive shocker from Hindi Cinema, raising many hard-hitting pertinent questions like never before.
The Novel & Realistic Execution
PINK doesn’t offer you a usual (linear) or an easy viewing as you never get to see what actually happened in that night till the director reveals it all in the end credits following a novel path. So the film intentionally maintains the suspense and the viewers are forced to assume the event as per their own vision and conclusions breaking the set pattern.
Beginning with completely silent titles (probably the first in the present millennium films), the director quietly prepares you for something unique to unfold in the next two hours and then straight away jumps on to the tension without any routine introduction of characters or some casual build up. So the film actually comes to the point with its very first scene and then continues building up on the same till the climax with an impressive minimal background score and soothing, melodious ‘Kaari Kaari’ song running more than once in the backdrop adding to the silent tension.
As far as the storyline is concerned, admittedly PINK has nothing new or fresh which you haven’t seen before as subplots used in numerous Hindi films involving minister’s spoilt kids or relatives. But the way director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and his writer Ritesh Shah narrate an entirely familiar plot with many inspiring conversations, strong emotional sequences and frightening court room proceedings, thankfully raises the bar of our slowly progressing Hindi cinema and gives a solid punching answer to every such person willing to write off Hindi films without even watching them.
Especially I loved the smart minute detailing in the film depicted through the Punjabi landlord played by Vinod Nagpal (so good to see him again after a long time), the typical neighbours always interested in bitching becoming mute spectators instead of providing a timely helping hand to the girls, the giggling co-workers laughing at their own known colleague post a morphed sexy photo of her appears online and the horrifying indifferent cops including the lady SHO who has actually lost her sense of duty playing with the entire future of the young girls simply arrested without any reason as per the orders given. These small insertions in PINK truly represent life as it is in a metro city in particular without any hiding at all.
Ripping off our social hypocrisy with a well thought of SAFETY MANUAL for girls.
This might surprise many but the best part of PINK for me was not the way AB fights the case in the court creating many ‘moral confusions’, but it was the SAFTEY MANUAL for girls, he keeps mentioning in his strong arguments before the judge throughout the second half.
Yes, a few of these points have earlier been mentioned too in various women oriented films in their well written sequences and dialogues. But the thought was never presented in such an impactful, consolidated and straight forward satirical way ever before mocking at our ages old social hypocrisy and sick double standards. Each and every mention of this SAFETY MANUAL makes you feel uncomfortable sitting in your seats and you instantly remember all the young daughters in your family, who more or less are made to face the same discrimination in one way or the other by their parents or the grandparents without an exception.
So the most appreciable feature of PINK remains this superfine piece of writing that actually turns the film into an extremely important document skillfully presenting the case of ‘Gender Inequality’ in our country that should ideally be watched by every single household bringing up a girl child.
It’s not just about DELHI as the problem actually resides in our regressive minds and not any particular city as being reported and publicized.
Though based in a posh colony of South Delhi, PINK is not just about Delhi alone as such instances can happen in any other metro city in India unconditionally. Moving ahead of the politics of defaming a particular city, the following worth contemplating points remain the same for every city in the country, where people tend to form an opinion without any deep thinking, confirmations or personal investigations.
A. There are more stares and comments made on girls wearing jeans/skirts/shorts or sleeveless shirts on the road, whereas nobody seems even concerned when someone wearing traditional Salwar-Kameez passes by.
Why? – Because we actually are more interested in forming an opinion looking at the clothes, without even knowing anything about the unknown girl’s very existence.
B. You meet a girl who is very shy, stays at a distance and talks less in a party. But then you meet a girl who is always smiling, laughs out loud and is quite friendly in her casual talks sitting very close to you.
Just notice how that simply changes our opinion because of her frank nature?
C. Apart from the way a girl dresses, works in odd hours or has a frank nature, another thing which at once results in different personal opinions about her character is the name and religion she belongs to without any slightest of doubt.
For instance, if you are told that the new working lady as the tenant in the building is Malini – then you form one opinion. If the name becomes Maria or Gurpreet Kaur – your opinion changes and if the name turns out to Gulbano – the opinion changes drastically!
D. A vacant flat in your building/locality is given on rent to 3 beautiful working girls, who keep coming late at night after their individual office hours dressed elegantly.
What happens after a few weeks? - The residents start gossiping making their own biased assumptions largely remaining negative questioning the girls characters.
However if the same flat is given to 3 working boys, then nobody even cares when they all come and go for months unless something extremely unusual is reported/noted by the landlord or any other person in the building by chance.
E. Does any alcoholic drink bottle mentions – ‘Only for males’ on its label?
NO – But still we keep on assuming that these drinks are just for males and females do a crime opting for them. And the same is more strongly assumed by the police officials, who are ideally supposed to be much more broad minded and less opinionated. The moment they find girls in a car also drunk along the boys, they assume them to be corrupt and indulged in some dubious activities. (The cops and counter questioning on drinks in PINK proves this point quite clearly)
F. In a normal office in any metro city, a boy likes a girl working in the same department. But his loving proposal gets refused saying a simple NO. Disturbed from the rejection, he takes up a picture of the girl, morphs her face on a sex worker’s body pic taken from the net and then posts it online along with her number mentioning “Call me for fun!”
What happens the next day?
In just a few minutes with a single click, the complete life of that innocent, working girl gets ruined forever.
Why? – Because we are too keen and quick to form an opinion without looking into the actual reality making an extra effort. In other words, in just one day the simple, hard working girl turns into a whore in our opinion and we start referring to her as “Aisi Waisi Ladki” recalling various instances of the past during the office hours.
G. Remembering my college days in Delhi’s north campus, though it is thankfully no longer the same, but I personally did experience the ill treatment given to friends coming from North East regions of the country calling them with different names and terms, particularly the girls. And I really felt deeply ashamed when a first year girl just broke down in front of we seniors, fed up of the daily harassment made by the students of another college coming in the same ‘Youth Special’ bus she used to travel in.
However the most disgraceful part of this truth is that the girls coming from this particular part of the country are widely considered to be ‘available’ following a strange misconception based on highly condemnable (statistical) assumptions.
H. Reminding you of another ‘administrative/governance issue’ in our country since the independence, try to think about the helplessness felt by the old man (Amitabh) in the film, when he clearly witnesses a van pulling Tapsee in and then moving out of sight without any number visible to him due to the distance and light.
Now if the same happens with any person anywhere in our big country, where he needs to go and complaint? Which number he needs to call in the first few minutes of the incident? And what should he do instantly as even dialing 100 doesn’t necessarily mean any prompt action within next 4-5 minutes in the area saving the kidnapped girl…….!
When a woman says NO, she actually means NO – very loud and clear.
This is the bottom line message or the basic premise of PINK on which the whole argument in the court and the final judgement is also based upon. When a woman says NO then it means Stay Away/Back Off or I am not interested and there should be no forced action post the clear declaration made whatsoever. However if a man continues to tease/touch/grab her even after the clear NO, then as per the law it becomes an assault as declared by the judge giving her the right to defend herself with even a counter attack.
A very valid point, which is mostly forgotten by married men in India, who wrongly consider it to be their lawful right to have sex with their wives whenever they wish to (as if she’s not a wife but a dummy sex doll bought for a price who also makes food, looks after the house and gives birth to the kids too). Stunningly our law-makers are still confused how to deal with this issue rightly termed as ‘Martial Rape’.
(For friends interested in this particular subject of Marital Rape, watch a recent, lesser known gem of a film titled AKAASH VANI released in 2013.)
Interestingly, PINK is not the first film to present this point for me and a small group of friends of mine who actually discussed the same when it was first said by Sunny Leone during her stay in the BIG BOSS house a few years back. In that particular episode, a fellow male participant forcefully picked her up and she kept saying NO. On asking how she felt during the particular incident she clearly meant that,
“Don’t form an opinion thinking about my body of work, as that doesn’t mean I am available. When a girl says NO then that clearly means Back Off and Leave Me Alone irrespective of who she is and what she does for a living.”
As a matter of fact, the statement honestly changed my personal viewpoint about Sunny Leone at that time and the point very well gets presented and argued before the judge in PINK too making a solid impact (which again also puts you in a big confusion about the actual incident in the script discussed in the downers.)
Performances
Leading the film in the second half, Amitabh Bachchan as the elderly lawyer yet again proves that he is the only one and probably will remain the only one in Hindi cinema, spelling magic on the silver screen at the age of 73. He performs superbly as the old retired lawyer suffering from Bipolar Disorder, also looking after her beautiful ailing wife lying on the bed. But strangely the frequent mood swings and sort of stammering completely disappears all of sudden in the court room sequences and more post intermission. In all, though this certainly remains the best performance of the veteran in comparison to his last many releases, but still it isn’t one of the career best performances of AB in my personal opinion. Probably PINK is another film post TE3N, where the director interacted and instructed the fatherly figure remaining in a respectful awe of him.
Coming to the three talented girls, the film truly belongs to them with Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang not really looking like acting even in a single scene. They all come up with complete natural acts in their individual portrayals and even Andrea leaves a strong noticeable impact despite having much less scenes and screen-time. Both Taapsee and Kriti are just exceptional in their difficult interrogation sequences in the court as its certainly not an easy task to perform with such conviction standing in front of the ‘Mahanayak’. And not to forget Taapsee looks simply great in her various hair-styles (more than 4-5, I suppose in the entire film).
Among the boys, both Angad Bedi and Vijay Varma strongly make you feel the anger and disgust together whereas Tushar Pandey remarkably displays his dilemma being the connecting link. As the judge Dhritiman Chatterjee proves the right choice made but becoming the sole problem in the cast is Piyush Mishra who once again decides to overact to the extent of hamming, may be on the instructions given by his director in order to bring in some crude humour.
Downers
Supporting PINK wholeheartedly for its important message, novel execution and praise worthy key performances, I am still not able to rate the film as any perfect masterpiece honestly, since it has got many flaws that can easily be stated as big downers in this trend-setting film of the year as mentioned below.
1. PINK completely ignores the family connection of the two girls and only Tapsee’s father is prominently shown informed about the so important case that’s quite abnormal. In other words the girls are being accused of such serious charges of being sex workers in a case involving the minister too but there is nobody from their families supporting them at this utmost crucial time that sounds really awkward. (A few people can be seen sitting behind them in the court but there is no individual scene of the parents interacting with their girls other than Tapsee).
2. As some vague insertions that don’t really work or gel with an otherwise excellent execution, it seems the gas mask used by Amitabh was only included to have some mysterious visuals for the promotion without any other use as such. Similarly the ailing wife track doesn’t make any additional contribution to Amitabh’s character in the film’s context in any way, whatsoever.
3. In the first half Amitabh keeps staring at Tapsee in the park, and then at the girl’s balcony too like a suspicious figure without any reason.
4. Amitabh is also shown to be well connected (in the first hour) with even the higher Police officials making direct calls (that are duly responded too) but the powerful connect is never shown or used during the investigation of case in the second half. (Or was that included only to feature the known journalist Dibang as some kind of friendly gesture!)
5. (Now this was really shocking for me as a fan of crime-mystery genre) – In the first half, Tapsee gets kidnapped by the boys pulling her in a van. Amitabh clearly sees that happening, makes a call to the police station and higher authorities too and the police reportedly does a search failing to find the van.
BUT surprisingly no one reports about that indicative kidnapping and molestation within the moving car to the police later, nor anyone even mentions it during the case proceedings in front of the judge. In fact, everyone simply forgets about that one big incident as if it somehow got deleted from their collective memory cards including the writer/director.
6. But most importantly, the film is about three young Indian girls living in Indian society, having a long life/career in front of them to live with dignity and pride. So the first motive of an experienced person defending them all in the court is to get them out of the case reinstating their innocent character and reputation in the society forgetting the ugly incident.
However what actually happens in the court is that in the process of proving their innocence, at one end Amitabh himself reveals the too personal past of Tapsee explaining the meaning of mutual consent and on the other Piyush proudly discloses Kriti’s affair with an already married man in his arguments admitted by the girls themselves.
Plus further when Kriti accepts the ‘money taken for the deal’ in a state of forced repulsion purposefully provoked by the shrewd lawyer, a complete character assassination of the three girls happens in the court itself ruining their entire social reputation and future prospects.
Now watching it as a spirited Hindi film climax, you also must have clapped considering it as a triumph with Amitabh emotionally winning the case saving the three girls. But did he really win the case giving their dignity back as desired or lost the same forever, getting them a life-long stamp of three young independent sex-workers duly acquitted by the court.
7. Elaborating on the same point, the director very cleverly ends the film on a positive note leaving the confusion unattended about the money taken or denied, despite mutely disclosing the actual ‘night incident’ in the end credits.
However everyone forgets to admit the truth that the judgment in the film was actually based on the ‘NO’ argument given by Amitabh (instead of the more appropriate ‘Self-defense’ one), clearly stating that a NO said by a woman means NO, even if she is operating as a sex worker. Now can this judgement be considered as a positive one for the girls is definitely a point to seriously think upon, where they are no doubt free to move out of the court but along with a declaration that they readily took the money for sex and then decided to say NO.
Summing up
As mentioned in the beginning I am in complete support of the film’s basic message pointing towards the biased upbringing of a girl child in comparison to the boys. And I wholeheartedly applaud the inclusion of the sarcastic SAFETY MANUAL for girls written and executed superbly in the film by the entire team with a special mention of the insightful poetry read along the end credits.
At the same time I cannot really appreciate the line of arguments given by the defense in the court and the new confusing definition of the word FREEDOM conveyed to the young working girls living far away from their homes. Besides I am also unable to support the final judgement too as it though sets the girls free but doesn’t end it all at any positive note creating much more difficulties ahead to be faced in their personal lives.
In other words in a country like India, the real shocking story actually begins from where PINK ends with a sex-worker tag associated with the girls staying with their names forever.
Having said that, do watch the film in the theatres and make it a success as if this doesn’t work at the box office then we will not get to see much better works from the team and many other young filmmakers in the future pushing the envelope further. So would love to see this 'must watch' becoming a decent HIT, bringing in a new positive change in our cinema deservingly supported by the viewers in the coming weeks.
Rating : 3.5 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 just for the Girl’s SAFTEY MANUAL)
--------------------------
For friends willing to read something shocking as well as thought provoking related to the subject.
Coming to the most scary and cunning part of the write-up, firstly think twice before you read further, as this is strictly for adults and might disturb many who don’t like to think hard or are habitual of disagreeing to the harsh blunt reality despite knowing the truth.
Secondly don’t consider this as my personal opinion, as the following is just how a story writer thinks about several possible situations, angles and culminations of a storyline and its key characters before moving them all to a specific direction. And when a MANTO inspired writer like myself starts assuming all the possible probabilities taking sides of its various characters, then at times he becomes extremely dangerous and scary exploring many sick dark truths hidden in our multi-dimensional psyche we ourselves are not aware of. So be warned and here it goes.
One -
Mr. X meets a beautiful lady in a pub/disco of a five star hotel. From the waiter he finds out that she is a sex worker. Knowing the inviting fact he decides to ask her for a night out. He makes an offer calmly. But the lady replies, “Yes, I work for money, but today cannot accept the offer as I have to return home”. So she says NO.
Hearing the denial, Mr. X gracefully accepts it saying, “May be next time” and moves away from her table heading towards the dance floor.
Everything fine…… following the rule of mutual consent….. respecting each other’s choice!
Two -
Mr. X meets a beautiful lady in a pub/disco of a five star hotel. From the waiter he finds out that she is a sex worker. Knowing the inviting fact he decides to ask her for a night out. He makes an offer calmly. The lady hears the offer and readily agrees to the same and asks for the entire amount in advance.
Paying the agreed sum right there, they both walk towards the room booked by Mr. X. In the lift the lady cracks a vulgar joke and they enter the room laughing out loudly. Post a few minutes of usual introductions, they have a couple of drinks together sitting on the bed ... and now Mr. X is ready to begin the desired task for which he had already made the complete payment in advance. He takes off his shirt and switches off the light. But just then………. the lady gets up from the bed, starts wearing her shoes and puts the money back on the table ready to walk out of the room.
As Mr. X asks “What happened?, she says, “I have changed my decision, In no mood for doing it tonight. So its NO from me for now”.
The man remains stunned and from here onwards its you to decide what MR. X is supposed to do at this particular point of time when he has already spent the money on advance, room rent and drinks.
How should he react?
Should he react in anger, get violent and refuse to accept the unexpected denial opting for a forced act OR Should he calmly accept the refusal thinking “When a woman says NO, it clearly means NO without any further questions about the timing”.
Okay, let’s assume he decides to refuse the denial and then tries to get what he had paid for in a forceful manner. But fighting with him on the bed, the lady picks up the bottle and smashes it on his head causing severe injuries and then walks out of the room taking the money too.
Next suppose Mr. X files a police complaint against that sex worker and the case goes for a trial in the lower court.
Now whatever Mr. X tries to do, spending both his time and money together bringing in any big lawyer having a huge reputed fame and some powerful connections, he will not be able to win the case in all probabilities as the assault will always be considered as a self-defense act by the court taking the woman’s side.
But who should be considered guilty here in reality?
Or its too complicated to decide the culprit here!
Just give it a thought!
(Note : Informing all interested readers, the last ‘not to be missed – strictly must watch’ women oriented film (not any court room drama) added in BTC’s ‘Movies To See Before You Die’ list remains BOL (2011), which ironically was from Pakistan, known for its much more suppressive attitude towards their women. But as they say, it would be a crime to miss BOL. So just go for it at the earliest and amaze yourself.)
Here is the link to its BTC review.
BOL - Movie Review : One of most shocking and stunning movies, which will shake you hard as never before for sure.
Cheers!
