Dinesh Kamath's Movie Column 'Best Bollywood Films of recent times – Part 5. that was published in Newsband

Movie Column

Best Bollywood Films of recent times – Part 5

By Dinesh Kamath

Pink (2016) directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury proved to be another one of the best films of recent times.

Pink is a 2016 Indian social thriller film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, written by Ritesh Shah, and produced by Rashmi Sharma Telefilms (Pawan Kumar and Rashmi Sharma), Sheel Kumar and Shoojit Sircar. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Piyush Mishra, and Dhritiman Chatterjee. It was released on 16 September 2016. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) granted the film a U/A certificate with four verbal cuts. The film received widespread critical acclaim, and garnered the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues.

The film was specially screened for the Rajasthan Police so as to train them to be sensitive and sensible about women's rights and dignity. The film was also specially screened at Rashtrapati Bhavan and invited for a screening at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. On 4 November 2016 the movie completed a 50-day run in theatres.

Three young and affluent boys, Raunak (Raashul Tandon), Vishwajyoti (Tushar Pandey) and Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi) rush to the nearest hospital because Rajveer is profusely bleeding from an injury to his head. They nervously refrain from filing a police complaint.

On the other side of the same town, three young women - Minal (Taapsee Pannu), Falak (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea - hurriedly travel in a taxi to their apartment. They look disoriented, and it is implied that they have something to do with the incident. Minal and her friends are shaken but try to carry on with their normal life.

The story revolves around these three young women. They are independent and self-sufficient women living together in Faridabad.

Minal goes out for her usual morning run, where she is constantly observed by an old man who lives in her neighbourhood, a man called Deepak (Amitabh Bachchan). He senses there is something wrong and introduces himself to these women as a reputable lawyer who is in retirement, and they enlist his help in the matter.

Eventually, as Deepak had predicted to the women, a series of threats arise from Rajveer's friend Ankit (Vijay Varma), who pushes for revenge. The threats result in Andrea being stalked and Falak losing her job. They are discouraged by a police officer from filing a complaint stating it would make their daily lives more miserable unless they relocate to another town or city. In reality, the local police are aware that the young men are "well connected" and are backed-up by Rajveer's uncle Ranjit, a powerful influential politician from South Delhi.

Nevertheless, Minal files a complaint.

Immediately, the next day, Minal is kidnapped by Rajveer's friends during her morning run. Deepak witnesses the incident but is unable to help in the heat of the moment even though he notes down the details and number plate of the car

Minal is threatened to stop filing complaints, blackmailed and is molested in the moving car and later dropped back home after all the commotion with a serious warning. A few days later, Minal is arrested by police from her apartment, based on a complaint from Rajveer labelling the women as prostitutes and charging Minal with attempted murder.

At this point, Deepak says enough is enough and visits Falak and Andrea at their apartment. Soon enough he helps them with the bail procedures and also in representing them in the court to plead their case.

In the courtroom, Rajveer's lawyer, Prashant Mehra (Piyush Mishra), presents the following version of events:

Rajveer and his friends meet with Minal and her friends at a rock concert. The men invite the women for dinner at a hotel resort, where they have drinks. The women provoke the men, have intimate relations and thereafter demand money, all signs indicating that they are prostitutes. Rajveer refuses to pay and an enraged Minal hits him on the head with a bottle and flees. Prashant's argument focuses on the poor moral character of the women. He pushes the idea that the friendly manner of the women, the fact that they attended a rock concert and the fact that they had drinks with the men indicate that they were prostitutes. Prashant attacks the fact that Minal has family in Delhi but chooses to live alone, Falak is in a relationship with an older man, and Andrea has moved to the city from Northeast India.

Contrary to this, Minal and her friends statement: that the men tried to sexually assault them. Minal alleges that Rajveer tried to rape her, and she attacked him with the bottle in self-defense.

Deepak's argument focuses on the issue of consent and a woman's right to say no.

A series of interesting and chilling courtroom arguments ensues in the following days.

Towards the end of the trial, Rajveer becomes enraged and provoked by the reputable and respected lawyer Deepak, revealing the truth by stating that the women "got what they deserved".

Deepak criticizes the regressed views of the society where women are stereotyped as prostitutes if they come home late, move out of their home, want to be independent, drink and so on, but none of these applies to men.

In his closing remarks, Deepak mentions that his client said "no". No means no and does not require further explanation. The women are acquitted while Rajveer, Ankit, and Dumpy are charged, with the duration of their sentences pending. Vishwajyoti is let off with a warning.

Critical reception

Source Rating

The Times of India      4.5/5 stars

CNN-News18 4.5/5 stars

Mid Day          4/5 stars

Hindustan Times         4/5 stars

DNA News     4/5 stars

The Statesman 4/5 stars

India Today    4/5 stars

Filmfare           4/5 stars

Mumbai Mirror            4/5 stars

The Indian Express     3.5/5 stars

Pink was released to widespread critical acclaim. Meena Iyer of The Times of India and Shubha Shetty Saha of Indiatimes gave the film 4.5 stars. Mayank Shekhar from Mid Day gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "The film, up until the closing credits, does not even visually describe the said incident. It grips you still with a gently piercing background score, moments of silence and dialogue, building up the tension, while the audience wonders what really could have happened one unfortunate night when three girls found themselves in a Surajkund resort with three guys."

Anna M.M. Vetticad of Firstpost called Pink a powerful film. Filmfare, India Today, Mumbai MIrror, Hindustan Times, The Statesman, and DNA have given 4/5 stars, highly appreciating the superlative performances, especially of Amitabh Bachchan. Critics like Anusha Iyengar and Mayank Shekhar called it movie of the year. Namrata Joshi of The Hindu also praised the film. Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the film 3.5 stars.

Rajeev Masand from CNN-News18 rated the movie as 4.5/5 mentioning that "I left the cinema, my mouth dry at the end of Pink. This isn’t just an important film, but also excellently made. It’s a giant leap for Hindi cinema, and easily the best film this year".

Box office

Pink grossed approximately Rs, 4.32 crore on first day in India. The first weekend collection was Rs. 21.51 crore.

At the end of 7 days the domestic box office collection was Rs. 35.91 crore. Pink grossed Rs. 50 crore in first 10 days in India.

The lifetime box office collections in India is Rs. 68 crores.

The film won National Film Award for being the Best Film on Social Issues. Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Producer: Rashmi Sharma Films      won an award. Ritesh Shah won awards for best dialogues. The film won Star Screen Award for being the best film. Amitabh Bahchan won Best Actor awards. The film was also nominated for many more awards. Thus Pink was one of the best films of recent times.