Pink, a brilliant film by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury is going to shake you to the core. It is not a film from a feminist perspective, but it does talk about the shackles in which girls of our country are tied even in this century. Pink does raise many pertinent questions, talks of double standards, gender discrimination etc. In spite of females excelling in almost every field, there are many unsaid rules in our society which decides whether a female is of good character or not. The beauty of the film is that this is not at all a loud film in spite of conveying a very loud message. It talks of the attitudes prevalent all around us which stamps a female of 'questionable character' on the basis of the length of the her skirt, the time when she returns home after work, how much she smiles at men, whether she drinks / parties or not, and her virginity status etc. There are enough moral policing for girls. It also talks about the corrupt system in our country, the cops who actually need to protect people, end up in framing people in false cases. Pink through its highly engaging plot and courtroom drama turns out to be so powerful that it is bound to make you think. Three single independent working women Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) are friends and they share an apartment in Delhi. Minal is from Delhi itself, but due to her odd working hours, she stays with friends. Falak is from Lucknow and Andrea from Meghalaya. Their lives take a turn when they go for a rock concert with a friend Vishwa (Tushar Pandey) and befriend Rajveer (Angad Bedi) and Dumpy (Raashul Tandon). They accept a dinner invitation from Rajveer and go for the same in a resort in Surajkund, Haryana. After some light talks, jokes, drinks, Minal is inappropriately touched by Rajveer. In an effort for self- defense, Minal picks up a bottle and smashes it on Rajveer. The girls manage to escape from the resort. Till the credits roll, the incident is not shown which led to the whole plot. But the screenplay is so strong that one gets to have vivid visualization of what could have gone wrong. Girls do not approach the police initially out of fear. They even get more scared when they come to know that Rajveer is the nephew of very influential politician. Later, when all three are harassed by the boys gang (actor Vijay Varma also joins the gang) by different means, they decide to approach police department and file a case. But Rajveer files a case in turn against Minal mainly and accusing other two too. Minal is accused for 'Attempt to murder', for extorting money etc. All three of them are labeled in the FIR as prostitutes. Minal is arrested, and the case is handled by none other than Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan), who lives in the neighbourhood of Minal, Falak and Andrea. The initial shots itself show Deepak doing morning exercises in the park, where he often ends up looking at Minal jogging with blank expressions. Deepak Sehgal had called it quits to his profession as a lawyer due to his bipolar disorder, but comes to the rescue of the girls. The second half is highly engaging with courtroom sequence. Piyush Mishra as Prashant is the prosecution lawyer. There we get to see some fine and smart moves during the debate. Deepak had answers to every accusation which Prashant was bringing up. Who wins in the end – Girls or the boys? How efficiently does Deepak suffering from bipolar disorder fight the case ? What defense statements were made by Prashant to protect the boys ? What was the motive of girls behind accepting dinner invitations from acquaintances, was it to extort money from the rich (as accused)? How were the girls Minal, Falak and Andrea treated in the society, workplace and in court after this incident ? How did they handle their character assassination? There are certain moments in the films which certainly would bring tears to your eyes. There is a scene, where after the incident, Minal is commented upon as the girl involved in 'Surajkund Kand', she just puts the hood of her sweatshirt on her head instead of retaliating, Amitabh Bachchan removes the hood. There are many more such moments. There is no lecture in the film; rather it talks about what is happening in and around us. There are some parts of the plot which were not very much justified: Amitabh Bachchan's Bipolar disorder, his ailing wife confined to a hospital bed. The boys appeared very influential and egoistic in the beginning, wanted to punish girls at any cost, but once when the courtroom drama started unfolding, there was not a single moment of encounter / threatening from these boys to girls, which seemed unlikely. But these are very much unnoticeable in midst of powerful scenes.
Pink, a very powerful and outstanding film, conveys a message very loudly that when a woman (be it friend, acquaintance, wife) says 'No', it actually means 'No'. It also prompts society to stop judging a girl on the basis of length of her skirt, time of her returning home, her single status, her attempts to enjoy life in parties etc. The poem by Tanvir Ghazi recited by Amitabh Bachchan when the credits roll, clearly conveys that it is high time to end the patriarchal rules which shackles the women in stereotypes. Pink through its highly engaging plot and courtroom drama turns out to be so powerful that it is bound to shake you to the core.
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