Moview Review- PINK- “NO Means NO”

Moview Review- PINK- “NO Means NO”
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Cast: Tapasee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Amitabh Bachchan, Angad Bedi, Piyush Mishra, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Rashul Tandon, Tushar Pandey, Vinod Nagpal, Vijay Varma,
Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Creative Producer: Shoojit Sircar
Story and Screenplay: Ritesh Shah
Duration: 2 hours 16 minutes
To start with, Director, Aniruddh Roy Chowdhury and Producer, Shoojit Sircar and the entire team of “PINK” deserves a big applause for putting forth such a strong message without any melodrama. Pink is a movie everyone must watch. The movie is a sharp smack on Indian patriarchy and the archaic, misogynistic and shallow values that have been stereotyping women in our society since ages. Pink sledgehammers the message that when a woman says no, (whether it be a friend, girlfriend, wife, sex-worker or anyone for that matter) it always means no.
What makes a woman’s character “Questionable”? If a woman drinks and attends parties or concerts, wears short skirts, jeans, tees, returns home at late hours, laughs and talks in friendly manner with her male friends, if she stays alone in a city, that, according to our so call respected society makes her easily available. That she is of “questionable character” and she is entitled to all kind of harassments. That neighbours prying across their balconies, trying to peep into the girls’ rooms makes the women of questionable character but not the neighbour himself.
And just in case a woman stands strongly against all odds, she is branded as a slut, whore and in the most derogatory terms of r*** as being mouthed by Bedi in the courtroom. Then saying “Bandiyo ki jitni aukaat hoti hai na, unko batati rehni padegi” (we need to keep reminding these girls of their statuses) illustrates the grisly outlook behind suave personas.
The three protagonists, Meenal Arora (Tapasee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea Tariang (Andrea Tariang), are normal independent working women sharing an apartment in a posh locality of South Delhi. A visit to a rock concert followed by accepting dinner invitation from three guys they meet at the concert changes the entire course of their lives. What follows is mayhem, but only for the women of-course.
The film opens with two guys carrying the third friend, covered in blood, to the hospital emergency and on the other side, three girls heading back in a cab late night. It takes little more than a minute to know that the injured Rajveer (Angad Bedi), belongs to an influential family with political background. That influence would definitely back his friends, Dumpy (Raashul Tandon) and Vishwa (Tushar Pandey) too. What makes matters worse is that the fourth friend, Ankit (Vijay Varma) who did not happen to be present on the night of the incident, engineers and participates in humiliating and threatening the girls.
In the thick of all obloquy, the best thing that chances on to the girls is the support of Advocate Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan), who represents them as their defence lawyer although he had quit long back. We understand that he is suffering from bipolar disorder, which was the reason for his quitting practice.
The first half of the movie is quite thrilling. The second half opens as the courtroom drama which actually is a prelude to various methods of character assassination of a woman in our society. Even by female officers in the police force, who are supposed to protect the victim and not walk hand in hand with the aggressors.
All three girls are amazing in their performances. Amitabh Bachchan once again proves that he can be phenomenal even in the most natural way without a hint of overplay. The horror, vulnerability, anger, confusion in the eyes of the girls crawls through our own skins as the movie progresses with each incident.
Angad Bedi succeeds in making us hate him when his anger snarls and offensive language create ruckus in the courtroom and he giving the statements – “Achche ghar ki ladkiya sharaab nahi peeti” (Girls belonging to respected families do not drink) and “Aisi ladkiyon ke saath aisa hi hota hai” (The same is true with such girls). The other guys just hang around with minimum significance. There are many characters in the movie you would love to hate including the prosecution lawyer essayed by Piyush Mishra.
Dhritimaan Chatterjee, who plays the Judge and Vinod Nagpal, who plays the landlord of the girls are examples of people who still have empathy and humanity left. Both have played their parts brilliantly.
There are quite a few scenes in the movie I was touched with. The one where Amitabh Bachchan pulls the hood off Tapasee Pannu’s head when she covers it due to sneer remarks of people while strolling in the garden. The scene where Kirti breaks down in front of the prosecution and agrees to accusations of having participated in solicitation. And the scene after the final judgement when Tapasee thanks Amitabh and starts crying by holding his hands.
The dialogues of the movie are very powerful, the message of which, will remain instilled in all our hearts and minds for years to come. That “NO” is not just a word, it is a complete sentence without the need of any further explanation or argument. The movie is not only gripping and tense, but will leave you shaken to the core. Please do watch Pink if you have not already.
Tanvir Ghazi’s poem in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice in the closing credits is a superb conclusion to the movie.
“Tu khud ki khoj mei nikal, tu kis liye hataash hai,
Tu chal, tere wajood ki, samay ko bhi talaash hai,
Jo tujhse lipti bediyaa,
Yeh bediya pighaalke; banale inko shastra tu,
Tu chal, tere wajood ki, samay ko bhi talaash hai”
My Verdict for the movie – 4.5 / 5

I would love to read your thoughts on this, please leave your comments below and share if you enjoyed have the read.

You might also like …

4 thoughts on “Moview Review- PINK- “NO Means NO”

Post Comment

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

All the data shown above will be stored on Cocktails Mocktails And, Life. At any point in time, you can contact us and select the data you wish to anonymize or delete so it cannot be linked to your email address any longer. When your data is anonymized or deleted, you will receive an email confirmation. We also use cookies and/or similar technologies to analyze customer behavior, administer the website, track users' movements, and to collect information about users. This is done in order to personalize and enhance your experience with us. Click here to read our Cookie Policy

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.