“We Had To Be Very Careful With Child Abuse,” Says Sujoy

Published

6 years ago

10th December 2016

Sujoy Ghosh who has shocked audiences with his stark brutal believable and sensitive depiction of child abuse in Kahaani 2 ,has seen victims of child abuse from very close quarters.

“My mother is a psychiatrist . My wife is a counsellor.At my mother’s clinic in Kolkata I’d see so many different kinds of psychological problems .They stayed with me. It took me years to sort out the one incident that has gone into Kahaani 2. I was plagued tormented and traumatized by it. But I didn’t know how to put it into cinema,” confesses Sujoy.

He was sure he didn’t want to preach down on audiences about child abuse or wag a disapproving finger at them. “My job as a filmmaker is to tell a story which is engrossing. I didn’t want to lose my audience in pursuit of the terrible burden that I carried on my conscience . I had to tell the abused child Mini’s story. But how? I did not want to make a documentary out of my film. I had to keep the audience involved till the end, without for a minute sensationalizing the subject. God forbid!”

Sujoy says he had to wait for a long time to get the right tone for the narrative. “It took me 2 ½ years to write Kahaani . I finally got it out of my system. The most scary thing about victims of child abuse is that they don’t know they’re being abused. They feel what is happening to them is normal, because they don’t know any better.By the time they realize the horrific wrong done to them it’s too late. Vidya herself plays a victim of abuse. Her character keeps herself from looking attractive .She is deliberately dowdy because she is afraid of the male gaze, the sexual touch.”

Sujoy is thankful to his actors for making the very difficult and sensitive subject relatively less complicated to put across. “This film couldn’t be made without Vidya and the child actor Naisha Khanna.Jugal Hansraj(who plays the child abuser) was someone I’ve known for years. He was supposed to do my directorial debut JhankarBeats…the role that Shayan Munshi eventually played. I’d see him jogging in Pali Hill. He was my first and only choice for the part. Thankfully he rose to the occasion. Someone had to do the dirty job. Or this film could not have been made.”

Sujoy remains undaunted by the relatively tame opening of Kahaani 2. “Considering the circumstances , demonetization , we are not doing badly at all. The important this is, those who are seeing the film appreciate what we’ve tried to say . No one recoils with horror at the theme of child abuse in my film. That to me, is a big relief. I was really scared about how audiences would react. I didn’t want them to ask, ‘Why is he showing this? We don’t want to see this.’ Luckily audiences have understood how important it is to address the issue of our children’s safety.We live in an environment of absolute distrust because we can’t bring ourselves to trust our children with even our closest friends.”

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Why On Earth Is Sushmita Sen Smoking A Cigar In Aarya’s First Look?

Published

59 mins ago

30th January 2023

Subhash K . Jha

Season 3 of Aarya is being shot as you read this, and naturally Sushmita Sen is super-kicked about it, so kicked that she has put out a video where she is seen in the best Lady Boss version of herself.

Alarmingly, she is seen puffing away at a cigar, to complete her Badass Lady Boss image.

There was a time when women smoking cigarettes in Hindi cinema signaled vampishness. If a female actor was shown smoking it meant she had evil designs over the hero, and life in general.

Sushmita being Sushmita, a cigarette won’t do. A cigar it is, to go with her formidable image. The last Bollywood actor I saw smoking a cigar on screen was Premnath in the 1970s. Back then so many people didn’t die of cancer by smoking.

These are different far more dangerous and deadly times.

Sushmita is an iconic actor.She needs to be more careful about the image she projects . Smoking a cigar doesn’t enhance a woman’s(or a man’s) muscle power. Nor does it make her look cool.

About shooting for the third season of Aarya Sushmita says, “Aarya is synonymous with my name. I have lived as Aarya for two whole seasons and the love received by the audiences has only encouraged me to do more. Walking on the sets of Aarya Season 3 makes me feel at home and gives me a sense of empowerment. I’m grateful to the entire team at Disney+ Hotstar, Ram Madhvani Films and Endemol Shine India for the vision of creating Aarya and taking it to newer heights with every season.”

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Shah Rukh, Deepika, John Will Meet The Media On Monday At 4 pm(But There’s A Catch)

Published

1 hour ago

30th January 2023

Subhash K . Jha

Pathaan has effectually discredited the efficacy of media interactions to promote a film. The film’s lead actors Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham did not conduct any press or portal interviews to promote the film.

And yet Pathaan is a blockbuster.

This weekend the Pathaan producer Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films took a call on behalf of the Pathaan team to do one media meet at the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai on Monday January 30 at 4 pm.

The three principal actors and director Siddharth Malhotra will address the media.

But here’s the catch: the media will not be allowed to ask any questions. There will be no Q& A s or one-on-one interactions.This basically means that the Pathaan team will have an opportunity to say what it wants to the media. But the media will have no say.

Make what you will of this one-way traffic.

A source close to Yash Raj informs me that this is the pattern regarding the media that Yash Raj will follow for future releases: no press meets no promotional engagements.

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Fake Projects of Pathaan Director Being Planted In Media

Published

1 hour ago

30th January 2023

Subhash K . Jha

Siddharth Anand Denies Considering Any Project With Deepak Mukut

A word of caution to those marketing and publicity wizkids who think it’s okay to plant fake stories on (fake) projects with the Pathaan director.

It is not.

Such baseless announcements are meant only to raise the equity of the producers with whom Siddharth Anand’s name is linked. One such producer whose name has cropped up after the spectacular success of Pathaan is Deepak Mukut.

There were reports everywhere that Siddharth Anand’s next would be with Mukut.

Turned out to be a false rumour.

A source in the know informs, “Siddharth now has to complete Fighter starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone for Yash Raj.Then he is committed to direct the sequel to War 2 for Yash Raj films. They will then start work on the next film in the Pathaan franchise. There is no scope or room for any outside projects for Siddharth Anand. So every announcement that you read of a new film to be directed by Siddharth Anand for an outside producer is likely to be a hundred percent fake.”

When I asked Siddharth Anand about the supposed project with producer Deepak Mukut he promptly replied, “NOT AT ALL.”

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Pink Director’s Next Featuring Yami As A Crime Reporter To Stream From February 16

Published

1 day ago

29th January 2023

Subhash K . Jha

Anniruddha Roy Chowdhury whose Pink featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu was one of the most important films of 2016, is all set to release his next Hindi film.

Entitled Lost, Anniruddha’s film , based on true events, will see Yami Gautam Dhar(that’s what the actress calls herself after her marriage) as a crime journalist. LOST is an emotional social thriller that represents a higher quest, a search for lost values of empathy and integrity.

Inspired by true events, Lost is a story of a bright young woman crime reporter in her relentless search for the truth behind the sudden disappearance of a young theatre activist.

Lost

Says Aniruddha “The shoot of LOST has been an incredible journey. I have been eager for the release of our hard-worked venture. The film is a realistic highlight of media in a social context and I am sure that it will give the audience a compelling watch. I am curious about its release and see the responses it shall get. I hope they will welcome it with open hearts.”

Yami Gautam Dhar who plays the lead of the crime reporter says, “I can’t be happier and more proud of the film’s selection for the opening night at CSAFF. I feel like its one that the people will connect to and will be the one that you cannot miss, especially in the current age and time. I have loved playing this role because it was such a special experience, it allowed me to explore so many layers of emotions as an actor and the entire team has worked really hard on it. I genuinely cannot wait for the film’s release, especially to see the reactions of the audience to it.”

The crime investigation drama boasts a stellar cast. Along with Yami, the film will feature Pankaj Kapur, Rahul Khanna, and an ensemble of younger talent, including Neil Bhoopalam, Pia Bajpai, and Tushar Pandey, in pivotal roles.