[Movie Review] Pink: The Importance of the Word ‘No’

Director        :           Anniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Writer            :           Ritesh Shah, Shoojit Sircar
Cast                :
Taapsee Pannu (Minal Arora)
Kirti Kulhari (Falak Ali)
Andrea Tariang (Andrea)
Amitabh Bachchan (Deepak Sehgal)

With the numerous films on women, feminism and several other issues and violence against women, finally there’s a film that reaches to the importance of a two letter word, ‘No’. The realist women oriented film that has successfully reached the hearts of millions of Indians, and probably the only film on women that has made it big in the Hindi Film Fraternity. The film not only repeatedly focuses on how a woman’s consent is never taken into consideration even for the smallest of things. However, regardless if a woman is independent, a child, a working woman, married, or a senior citizen, her consent unfortunately never does matter anyway. So, why was this film so important in the Film Industry today? Was it only because it’s high time that we need to start respecting a women’s consent, regardless of who she is and where she comes from; or was it because it was just another film added to the Literatures of Women or Subaltern Films? I’m sure you, as an audience and a viewer knows better.

The name of the film was named Pink, not because it stereotypically represents a woman or womanhood. It was named Pink because ‘Pink’, according to various urban dictionaries is defined as a reference to forced and often cruel or threat based occupation of a vagina by an unwelcome penis. This film not only bought up issues like molestation, rape, and the character of a woman regardless of the crime, but also favoured the male chauvinistic environment and society that we live in. The chauvinism or feminism was not glorified but reported perfectly well with respect to the harsh reality that women face every day.

For the fact that there are women in both villages and cities who face assault, violence, mental and sexual torture every single day, Pink claims that women aren’t safe anywhere and nevertheless, even when they are independent working women. The film also addresses events and issues when a woman actually dares to stand up for herself, but is only responded with rape threats and death threats. As much as films are meant to be a fantastical escape from reality for people, ‘Pink’ addresses issues that does not sugar-coat reality but finally does justice to the matters addressed, leaving the audience pondering over the importance and the meaning of the word ‘No’.
pink

There are several minute elements that the cast of ‘Pink’ has portrayed in which few of them include the training mask of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and the tattoo of the birds flying on Ms. Taapsee Pannu’s chest. The involvement of a North East girl, Ms. Andrea Tariang in the film was also important and extremely well thought of and written due to the varied racism against them. The Muslim girl who was among the three girls in the film, namely Ms. Kirti Kulhari’s character was also brilliantly written and portrays the sect of women who are most oppressed through religion and culture in the society. There was no unnecessary drama, music or dialogue. Every dialogue impacted the film equitably.

The cinematography was commendable and the script was written brilliantly, keeping in mind the reality and the message that aimed at sending to the audience. However, in the climax when the audience was expecting a fight back from Ms. Taapsee Pannu’s side, that’s exactly when the tables had turned and it moreover blew in as a reminder that the Law will take care, maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. Regardless of which, that was not the point of the film. The point of the film was the importance of the word ‘No’ from a woman’s mouth. The director also did a great job by displaying the actual act of what exactly happened that night from which all the events were chained, at the conclusion of the film when the credits were being exhibited. Without that, the film was merely a remnant and hence enhanced the film experience.

Overall, the film was brilliantly made and perfectly named. The actors did a brilliant job especially Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who was also featured in a campaign by Blush Originals, namely #AbSamjhaauthaNahi. The film focussed on issues, did not glorify them, reported reality and brilliantly questioned everybody watching. It not only motivated women but also inspired them to be assertive in their decision making skills. The women in the film were bold and brae and did not back out when their lives were threatened and their bodies and characters were humiliated in the court. That is exactly why ‘Pink’ is a must watch, with anybody, alone, family, romantic partners or even friends.

 

One thought on “[Movie Review] Pink: The Importance of the Word ‘No’

  1. Love the message and what you stand up for Sonia David, please continue to create awareness, their is a generation standing up and that’s the present.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *