I haven’t watched any of Anirudha Roy
Chowdhary’s (five) earlier movies, but I am very happy I watched ‘Pink’. A
movie that shocked the audience with the truth about the society we live in.
Anirudha has held a mirror against us to show
where we live in and who we are surrounded with.
Huge respect and a great round of applause
(and whistles) to the filmmaker for boldly addressing the country on
one of the most important but well evaded subject: Consent. This could be a
great beginning for the Indian films to start speaking about all that it has
long abstained from.
The film is raw - with no songs, drama, clichés
or unnecessary characters, stays focused on the centre of the story without giving
in to any distraction. The pace is slow, especially the second half with almost
only courtroom scenes, yet is indeed gripping. Apt casting, with power packed
performances assures a few goose bumps.
The scene where Meenal helplessly cries on
the court stand recalling what she went through, explaining what it feels like
to be grabbed and molested, while struggling to prove innocent, made my eyes
moist and shudder at the thought of the agony she went through. I’m sure you
wanted to tear the screen and land your clenched fists on the annoying lawyer
who threw disgusting questions at the protagonists questioning their morals.
Your heart goes out to the girls every time they were randomly thrown insults
at. The girls were being stalked, threatened, and harassed with inappropriate morphed
pictures of them being leaked, losing the job and so much more.
The educated rich guy (who studied from King’s
College, London), ended up as a narrow-minded bum who believed girls that drank or
behaved friendly DESERVED to be molested. Slap. The pervert neighbour who
gawked at the girls every day from his window, testified that the girls returned
home late and hence were into prostitution. Slap. The policewoman failed to
protect the women on the complaint and ended up faking a reverse story. Slap. Fighting
the system (Police, court) and the attackers, they ended up facing the disguised
evils of the society - perceived morality, gender biases, hypocrisy, prejudice
thoughts and what not.
The film teaches you to be aware of law –
introduced you to Zero FIR and the law that a woman can get bail on
weekend. The movie did show all the troubles that the women went through for
registering a complaint on the boys. But it also teaches you to be brave enough to take action against the wrong doers. The girls made it!
This movie is a reflection of the reality; compilation
of all the cases that we have been reading about in the newspapers. It is what
may happen to you, me or any other woman.
The movie teaches one thing that many of us
weren’t taught about: CONSENT.
FRIEND, GIRLFRIEND, SEX WORKER OR WIFE. NO
MEANS NO.
In a country where marital rape is not a
criminal offense, the biggest lesson comes from the movie. CONSENT. And NO MEANS NO.
