Pink (2016 film)


Pink is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language social thriller film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, written by Ritesh Shah, and produced by Rashmi Sharma Telefilms, Sheel Kumar and Shoojit Sircar. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Tushar Pandey, Piyush Mishra, and Dhritiman Chatterjee. It was released on 16 September 2016. The Central Board of Film Certification 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.

Plot

Three affluent men, Raunak, Vishwajyoti, and Rajveer Singh rush to the nearest hospital because Rajveer is bleeding from a heavy injury to his head. At the same time, three women — Minal, Falak and Andrea — return to their apartment in a taxi. They look disoriented, and it is implied that they have something to do with the incident.
The three women are independent and live together. They try to move on from what happened that night. During Minal's morning runs, she is observed by an old man in her neighbourhood, Deepak, who senses there is something wrong. Threats arise from Rajveer's friend Ankit, who pushes for revenge for the injury Minal caused Rajveer. The threats result in Falak losing her job. They are discouraged from filing a complaint, stating it would make their daily lives more miserable. In reality, the local police are aware that the men are "well-connected" and backed by Rajveer's uncle Ranjit, an influential politician. Minal goes to a higher-standing police officer and files a complaint.
The next day, she is kidnapped by Rajveer's friends. Deepak witnesses the incident but is unable to help. Minal is threatened, blackmailed, and molested in the moving car and dropped back home, leaving her shaken. A few days later, she is arrested based on a complaint from Rajveer labeling the women as prostitutes and charging Minal with attempted murder. At this point, Deepak becomes frustrated with the events and introduces himself as a reputable lawyer in retirement. He helps Falak and Andrea with the bail procedures and decides to represent Minal in court.
In the courtroom, Rajveer's lawyer, Prashant Mehra, presents the following version of events: Rajveer and his friends meet Minal and her friends at a rock concert. They invite the women for dinner at a resort, where they have drinks. The women provoke the men, become intimate, 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 attacks the fact that Minal has family in Delhi but chooses to live alone.
Minal and her friends' statement is this: The men tried to sexually assault them. Rajveer tried to rape Minal, 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 chilling courtroom arguments ensues in the following days. Toward the end of the trial, Rajveer becomes enraged and, provoked by Deepak, reveals the truth, 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, want to be independent, drink and so on, but none of these apply to men. He closes with the fact that his client said “NO”. No means no, and does not require further explanation. The women are acquitted while Rajveer, Ankit, and Raunak are charged, with their sentences pending. Vishwajyoti is let off with a warning. The end credits scene reveal what actually happened: the men systematically isolated the women and Rajveer tried to force himself on Minal, who then attacked him with a bottle to his head in self defense.

Cast

In early March 2016 Amitabh Bachchan revealed that he was shooting a film in Delhi. It was rumoured that the film was titled "Eve". On 13 March Bachchan denied the rumours and announced through Twitter that the film is titled Pink.
Director-producer Shoojit Sircar informed that Amitabh Bachchan accepted the role and Taapsee Pannu was their first choice. Andrea Tariang was also selected to play the role of one of the girls in the film. Tushar Pandey, Raashul Tandon and Arjun Chakraborty are making their debut with this film.

Filming

The principal photography of the film began in New Delhi on International Women's Day, 2016. The looks of Amitabh Bachchan in the movie was created by Shoojit Sircar however the idea of wearing the mask was suggested by Amitabh Bachchan since Delhi is very polluted.
During the shoot, Amitabh Bachchan wandered the streets of New Delhi while wearing a costume in which the public could not recognise him. Amitabh Bachchan finished filming his scenes in April 2016.
Taapsee often broke down on the shooting sets as she felt her character was very strong and challenging. She suffered from viral infection during the court scenes and wanted to dub later, however Shoojit felt that her illness would add more authenticity to the scenes. Despite the hardships Taapsee enjoyed filming the scenes.
The original climax of Rajvir and his friends winning the case was modified so as not to hurt the sentiments of the audience.
A special screening of the film was held for Amitabh Bachchan's co stars and the leading ladies of Bollywood. However Amitabh Bachchan could not attend the screening due to health issues. Taapsee also arranged a special screening of the film for the Telugu film industry at Hyderabad.
Bishan Singh Bedi, father of Angad Bedi, arranged a special screening of the film in Delhi which was attended by cricketers like Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh.

Marketing

Shoojit Sircar and Amitabh Bachchan questioned their fans on Twitter as to what they think the film title "Pink" is all about. Times of India had opened a contest in which 5 lucky winners got a chance to meet Amitabh Bachchan and other 10 winners got free movie tickets of the movie -Pink. The winners were announced on 15-September-2016.
The world television premier was held on 23 – October 2016 on Star Gold and to commemorate the same, Amitabh Bachchan's house Jalsa, Carter Road Promenade and SNDT Women's University were illuminated in pink colour.
The title of the film has no relationship as being the favourite colour of girls but rather conveys that women should have the freedom to speak and walk freely at night.

Soundtrack

Critical reception

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 4.32 crore on first day in India. The first weekend collection was 21.51 crore.
At the end of 7 days the domestic box office collection was 35.91 crore. Pink grossed 50 crore in first 10 days in India.

Accolades

Remake

The 2019 Tamil remake of Pink, Nerkonda Paarvai, was produced by Boney Kapoor, with Ajith Kumar in the lead role and directed by H. Vinoth.
Music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. It was released on 8 August 2019. The movie met with positive reviews from audience, the movie went on to become a successful venture in south Indian box-office
It is being remade in Telugu as Vakeel Saab starring Pawan Kalyan.