Whether it is his personal opinions or the kind of films that makes, director Anubhav Sinha believes in playing with a straight bat, says Saimi Sattar
Anubhav Sinha’s attitude to films was defined by a non-filmy friend’s reaction to the first cut of the trailer of Article 15. “He saw it, kept looking at the TV, turned around and said, ‘Kitna gussa hai tere andar (you’ve so much pent up anger).’ I’ve been angry about certain things and maybe films are a good method to vent it out,” says the director, whose last outing Mulk brought us face to face with a Muslim family tarred by the tag of terrorism because one of them indulged in an act that could be defined so.
It seems that Anubhav is getting into the habit of showing us a mirror, which reflects a picture that is far from pretty by bringing us face to face with prejudices that have become so intrinsic to our being that they appear to be normal. But by no stretch of imagination can they be described as such. In Article 15, he dives into the underbelly of the caste system and leaves us cringing at our own selves and attitudes in the the way we treat our fellow human beings.
Cut to the second half of the film and a man shorn of any protective devices and practically bare-chested dives into a manhole and emerges covered in muck, faeces and waste. “This was shot in extreme slow motion, 150 frames in a second, to make one feel as if one is diving into the gutter. I want you to see every thinnest slide of that process,” emphasises Sinha.
But when you question if his move away from romantic (Tum Bin, 2001) or even action films (Dus, 2005 or Ra.One, 2011) to more realistic fare is a conscious effort, he avers, “It isn’t. Rather it is a state of mind. I’m not happy with my fellow countrymen, so I’m chatting with them.”
He isn’t consciously thinking of any particular direction to take. “I’m having a ball. I think of good stories. I put them on paper and by god’s grace, the rhythm is such that when I really like them, I end up writing a hundred pages in three days like I did for this film.”
Of course, the film did have several drafts and he collaborated with Gaurav Solanki, its co-writer. Anubhav agrees that a lot of thought went behind it. “I’m aware that these aren’t flirtatious films where you think up a story and weave something around it. These things have been brewing inside me for long,” he says.
Naturally, a film that puts out a strong point that might appear contentious in today’s troubled times and can be interpreted in a warped way is bound to invite trouble. Article 15 is no different. From the time the trailer aired, Anubhav has been trolled, received threats including one of sexual violence against his sister. “I have nothing to say to them. There is no point talking to clueless people. We must find better employment for them,” he emphasises on the word ‘better’ hinting that this was one form of employment.
Prodded further, he points out that the protesters have been at it for a month. “I wonder if they have some kind of patronage because 200 to 400 boys cannot go to a theatre and say that you cannot screen this film without some support or protection from the administration,” he says and gives the example of Padmaavati which was later released as Padmaavat. “They said we suspect that Rajputs have been derided. Till that time Sanjay Leela Bhansali had no certification. He approached the Central Board of Film Certification which was headed by Prasoon Joshi. He watched the film, found nothing objectionable and gave it a U/A certificate. But these people don’t respect CBFC, which is a Constitutional body. That in turn means that they have scant respect for the Constitution or the government. They are just seeking attention,” says the 49-year-old director.
Something similar happened to him recently at a panel discussion in a news studio. “A gentleman was fighting with me against what he believed was a wrongful portrayal of Brahmins in the film. When I questioned as to which scene was disrespectful to Brahmins, he said that he had seen only the trailer. Clearly, he had come to the debate so that he could be seen on TV,” he says.
Anubhav tried to tackle this by writing an open letter to the protesters which said, “We live in a civilised society and we should respect each other,” and when I ask him that with the kind of threats going around, can we claim to be so? He says, “At least we are supposed to be. I’m disappointed in us as humans and what we’re doing worldwide — in India, USA or UK. Suddenly people in UK are insecure of immigrants. What is going on? We were meant to live together in harmony.”
Sometimes he takes to the social media to vent out and recently he gave it back to the trolls strongly. “I’m playing with them. I’m from Benaras, hence very abusive. I’ve a 15 minute spurt. The only abusive word that I used in the tweets is f**k which featured in my film that has been certified as U/A. But they got upset. They don’t read what their fraternity writes to me,” he says.
The film, as is known, has many references from contemporary times. The film features the Badaun rape case of 2014 where two teenage girls were allegedly raped and then murdered by hanging from a tree. As does the Una case, where Dalits were flogged on the pretext of cow protection and they retaliated by not reporting to work.
Ayushmann Khurana, who has previously picked up socially relevant films, plays IPS officer Ayan Ranjan. “He met me for something else and I ended up telling him the story. He wanted to do it and told me not to sign up anyone else,” says he.
However, the film has been criticised for making a Brahmin the protagonist, who is the means of redemption for the lower caste, something akin to carrying the White man’s burden. “I have a few answers to that. They can make that film where the protagonist is a lower caste. They can’t tell me what I should do. Two, ideally the privileged have to challenge their own kind. To me, that is the most exciting. The underprivileged have been challenging the privileged for a few thousand years and it hasn’t got anywhere. So somebody from a privileged class has to stand up and say that what a fellow caste person is doing is unacceptable. I don’t think it is a saviour complex. I remember my DOP, who is a White man, fought over it too,” he says and takes a deep breath to add his final argument. “Even if what you are saying is right, I want to make a mainstream film, which people will watch rather than just film critics. When we make big commercial films, there are several compromises that we make to attract the audience. So even if this is a compromise, I can use it to talk about different things. We talk about utopia when we don’t have basics in place. So if a person wants me to portray a utopia, I will retort that I am not the only man responsible for it. I am doing what I can and you do what you can,” says the director.
We get talking about how commercial films have now become more realistic and taken up subjects that were hitherto confined to what was called the parallel or art cinema. “A very dear friend was reviewing the film and used the term, parallel commercial cinema for it. I’ve wanted to draw a new line where a film is real but mainstream. It is a very difficult balance to achieve where you have to be qualitatively and cinematically good. When I make films, my top priority is to get an audience. I love the stars that the critics give a but I cannot make films just for them,” he says.
The film’s opening credits thank Bob Dylan and one understands why, as the singer’s iconic number, Blowin in the Wind is strummed up in the background of the very first frames. As the end draws near, we hear the familiar strains of Vaishnav Jana Toh, Mahatma Gandhi’s famous bhajan. In between the two lies the crux of the film. “I hope so,” says Anubhav and adds, “I begged, borrowed and stole to get that song from Mr Dylan and he was kind enough to allow me to use it. When I tried to get it initially, I was told that I must be out of my mind and shouldn’t waste my time. But I persisted. Shahrukh ka dialogue hai na, ‘kisi bhi cheez ko dil se chaho to puri kainat usse tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai’.”
But a lot of work did go in acquiring the rights. He wrote to Gingger Shankar, his LA-based singer friend, who in turn approached a person who copied Anubhav’s mail to Dylan’s manager. “One fine morning, I woke up to a mail from him allowing me to use it,” he says.
Incidentally, Martin Scorcese’s Rolling Thunder Revue, a documentary on a concert tour by Dylan with numerous musicians and previous collaborators hit the theatres in India on the same day as Article 15.
Up next, he is working on a film that is contemporary though the inspiration this time around is not from news. “I am shooting with Taapsee next month. I am working on two more as I endeavour to make two films in an year,” he says.
Since his content is path-breaking, has he caught up on any of the new web series? He intends to though he hasn’t had the time to watch any recently as he “has been busy with my films. I have missed seriously good stuff.”
An avid reader, he says, “I am reading Humans: A Brief History of How We Fucked It All Up by Tom Phillips. It is outrageous and outstanding. We have meticulously fucked it up.” Clearly, the friend was right. Bohot gussa hai Anubhav ke andar.
Photo: Pankaj Kumar
