New Delhi: Amitabh Bachchan's "Pink" is being lauded for its powerful depiction of sexism that women are subjected to and the megastar says he had gauged the film's impact during its making itself when he found men in the crew getting emotional.
"Pink", which released yesterday, is the story of three girls taking on their wrongdoers in a society full of people with a sexist and patriarchal attitude. "While shooting 'Pink', a lot of men in the crew broke down," Bachchan, who played the lawyer for the girls, revealed during India Today's Mind Rocks event here on .
The 73-year-old actor was accompanied by rest of the principal cast-- Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang and Angad Bedi-- and the film's producer Shoojit Sircar. Bachchan also remembered his mother during the conversation as he said, "My mother was my biggest inspiration. She combined compassion and strength in equal measures. She taught me to never take anything down."
His younger co-star Taapsee has been receiving unanimous praise for her performance and the actress said it gives her immense satisfaction to have played a role, which evoked emotions in the audience. "My role in 'Pink' was satisfying. I appreciate roles that have the capacity to trigger emotions in people. Women need to know that they too can kick ass," the 29-year-old actress said.
On screen, Taapsee puts up a brave fight against chauvinism and the actress says in her real life too when she sees a woman not giving up, she gets a sense of success. "In a case, where a girl doesn't back down, it feels like a personal success for me." One of the aspects that "Pink" touches upon is consent and how it's not even in the picture when it's about a woman.
Shoojit, who has creative produced the Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury-directed film, said through "Pink", he sought to convey a semblance of the perpetual sense of insecurity that women live with. Speaking about the importance of consent, Shoojit and Taapsee argued when a woman categorically says no, it is important to respect it and the notion of consent is not negotiable.
While "Pink" is intense, Shoojit's own directorial venture, "Vicky Donor", was a light-hearted film also set in Delhi.
Speaking about both the movies, the filmmaker said, "'Vicky Donor' deals with light moments all seemingly in the friendly neighbourhood of Lajpat Nagar but let's not deny the reality of Delhi-a woman walking on the streets after eight pm will inevitably face some harassment," he said.