REVIEW’S
movie review :
PInk
T
hree single working women in New Delhi. In 21st
century India, that one line constitutes a horror
film. Pink is a savage indictment of our sordid patriarchy that shackles women in stereotypes. Here, character is determined by the clothes you wear, the time
you come home, how much you smile at men, whether
you drink or not, and of course, your sexual history. Pink
takes a sledge-hammer to these archaic assumptions.
Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and creative producer Shoojit Sircar eloquently establish that none of it
matters. When a woman says no, it means no. An event
at a rock concert ends with a bottle being smashed on a
man's head. Rajveer Singh is the nephew of an influential politician. His assailant Meenal is an ordinary working
girl who refuses to have sex with him. The incident soon
spirals into a nightmare. Only for the women, of course.
Meenal's roommate, Falak, loses her job. Meenal herself is abducted and terrorised. The boys lay siege and
do their best to break the women into submission. One
of them declares that it's important to show these women
what their aukaat is. When Meenal is arrested, the only
resort the girls have is a retired lawyer who lives in the
neighbourhood. Deepak Saigal has blank, bruised eyes.
He no longer remembers very well. But Deepak brings
to the table an almost righteous rage. His impassioned
defense of these brave girls is both, heart-breaking and
inspiring. I walked out of Pink shaken to the core. Not
because this film is telling us anything new. A cursory
glance of the news will tell you of the trauma that Indian women - urban and rural - face on a daily basis.
But Pink makes the horror so real that your skin crawls.
It's the detailing - the prying neighbours, the sniggering
co-workers, the indifferent cops. The third roommate,
Andrea, is from Meghalaya. At one point, she says, "As
a North-eastern girl, I feel I am harassed more than an
average Indian girl." It's a small moment but it underlines the awful truth that harassment is normal, but extra
harassment is reserved for those we perceive as outsiders. Pink works because the grimness of the material
doesn't weigh on the telling. This isn't a laboured lecture
on women's rights.
The first half works
as a thriller and the
second as a courtroom drama. Aniruddha keeps the
scenes tight and
tense. The writing
by Ritesh Shah is
terrific. So are the
performances. The
women - Taapsee
Pannu, Kirti Kulhari
and Andrea Tariang
- don't seem like
they're acting. These
are women you and
I might know, strong
and vulnerable, angry and confused.
There's a wonderful
moment when Falak
is ready to apologise to Rajveer but a conversation with
him enrages her so much that she screams at him defiantly. After all, this is a man who believes that "aisi ladkiyon ke saath aisa hee hota hai." Taapsee is excellent
in the courtroom scenes and a special salute to Amitabh
Bachchan, who imbuses character with tragic majesty.
Amitabh Bachchan towers in every sense but without a
hint of show-boating. Some stray bits don't work as well.
I'm not sure what the gas masks that Deepak wears or
his dying wife add to the character. But i'm nit-picking
here. Pink is a powerful film that needs to be seen.
31 | BOOM