I am doing my job to earn a living: Amitabh

He also faced flak for the same with many calling the letter an attempt to promote his film “Pink”, and some calling it a misogynist move. He elaborates, “It’s very embarrassing when we visit overseas and people there say, “You are from India, the land of rapes”.

The 73-year-old star, in fact, enjoys the “self-pressure” and anxiety, and he says he would never want it any other way. No, PINK is not about molestation, it’s not about rape, it not women centric it’s about a situation that can occur to anyone and how one should be cautious about it. I am born and brought up in urban areas- may that be Delhi or Mumbai. “The women have been suppressed a lot as a gender, in general, in the country”. If an untoward event occurs in Delhi or Mumbai, the whole nation feels bad and gets anxious about it. “The issue is about the whole nation or universal”. Pink has an interesting story and stars Big B (Amitabh Bachchan), Taapsee Pannu, Andrea Tariang, Kriti Kulhari, and Angad Bedi in significant roles.

Asked whether the transition from being the leading man to a character star has been hard for him, Bachchan says he does not look at it that way.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar today said it would be good if cinema halls play the national anthem prior to the screening of films. There should be no discrimination. He further added: “What the film is saying has been a point of discussion for the longest time in our society”. Our idea was to represent what we see in everyday life. “We needed this film to mirror the patriarchal double standard which engulfs our society”.

At last, Big B has again proved to be the powerhouse of the film. The way he listens during readings and asks for justification of each and every dialogue of the film, the way he rehearses his lines before every single shot is commendable. When I gave the audition I was sure I won’t be selected as I thought my real persona is extremely different from Rajveer. Her unwavering determination is the moral centre of the film, even though it was Bachchan’s bluster that the audience I saw the film with responded to.

Bachchan said for him, his kids -Abhishek and Shweta – are equal and rather than mending the behaviour of girls it is important for the family to teach their boys to respect women. “And even when I die, whatever little that I have will be equally divided between my daughter and my son”. My mother asked me to go back and fight and beat them up. I believe it’s still happening in theatres.

He hopes that the dignity of their presentation shall receive the dignity and respect that they feel the need to, “in our world for the women”. We had that thing in mind to reach out to a good section of audience and hence narrated the film as a thriller. I’ve always felt burdened with the war paint that we girls are required to put on for the camera. “Un ladkiyon ko nahi chhodenge” (“We won’t spare those girls”), one of his friends vows.