As the legal process comes to a close in the infamous Jessica Lall murder case with Manu Sharma being released from prison after spending 17 years behind bars, Raj Kumar Gupta, who made No One Killed Jessica, reflects on the strength of Sabrina Lall, Jessica’s sister, and the typical ‘Delhi’ power mindset that drives incidents such as this
Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; June 4, 2020)

What do you recall of the events that led you to make No One Killed Jessica? In an earlier interview you had said that NOKJ ‘was a story born out of tragedy’ and that ‘I spent 20-25 days with Sabrina. I used to sit with her for two-three hours every day. It was not easy and you get overwhelmed’.
I had finished my first film, Aamir, and I was looking for my next film. We were all aware that this (the Jessica Lall murder case) could be a good subject to explore. Emotions were running high, there was tragedy, injustice and the media had done a good job of bringing that incident to the forefront.

The first step was to meet Sabrina, tell her that we wanted to make a film on it and see what she thought about the idea. That’s how it all started. After that there were two parts. The first was sitting with Sabrina and getting her thoughts and experiences, whatever she had been through. The second part was reading – there was so much to be read, so many versions, reports and stories. For 20-25 days, I spent a couple of hours daily with Sabrina. I used to go and meet her and go through the timeline and what she had gone through. It was so emotional, overwhelming... it affected me. It was quite a long process. By the end of it, I was emotionally overwhelmed.

As far as Sabrina was concerned, I found her very open. Of course, she was very emotional. She was also very strong. There was a certain angst as well about what had happened, fairly so. She had lost her sister, she had lost her parents. But I found her very strong, very emotionally balanced. She had specifically told me that she was not ready to forgive the person who had killed her sister, but then in 2018, when she was asked about Manu being pardoned early, she was okay with it. That again shows how strong her character is – she is somebody who is ready to let go. It made me remember a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, that ‘The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.’

So when you researched the story, you would have spoken to the nightlife sector, the bureaucracy, the police, lawyers, the system and so and so forth. What was the sense you got in the city’s vibes – how ‘typically Delhi’ was the incident?
In No One Killed Jessica, the monologue that comes when the film begins, it is the voice of the journalist (played by Rani Mukerji) who is talking about Delhi. She says that she has never understood Delhi. It is a city where people are ready to show power, ‘You don’t know who I am’. I tried to address that because I have lived in Delhi. I studied in Delhi and spent three-four years in the city, graduating from Ramjas College. So that side of Delhi is something which I had seen. The wrong side of masculinity. It really, really disturbed me.

Do you think Delhi has changed at all in ten years? Stories of people pulling out a gun at the smallest of provocations continue to be part of what Delhi — NCR, actually — is.
I would like to believe it has. But whenever I visit Delhi, I do not see it. Delhi is a city with a lot of power, more power than it can handle. I think that is something that really corrupts people. It has too much power to be impartial or to be fair. So I don’t know if it is as bad it as it was, but I think that not much has changed. That kind of power wakes up the monster, the evil.

What is your take on Manu — not in terms of your movie’s character, but as someone who read the news, and followed what was actually happening?
From whatever I read or saw, it was a very typical representation of what power does. It was very typical of how these characters behave, you know, when they are drunk in a bar or when they think they can get away with it. It was a very typical kind of a character.

NOKJ is among many realistic films where a Delhi-based female character has to bear the brunt of what happens – Talvar, Chhapaak, Pink, even Thappad. As a filmmaker, does this make you feel optimistic that these topics are now discussed in the public domain, or disturbed at how NCR is such a fertile territory for such topics and stories? Do such movies make a difference to how we conduct ourselves?
As a filmmaker, you have to hope that these kinds of films might have an impact on the people who are victims and on the culprits as well. You would want to believe that, we don’t make cinema in a vacuum. Yes, we keep making such films but these incidents still happen. But that should not stop us from telling those stories. It takes a lot to tell a No One Killed Jessica, or Talvar, or Chhapaak, or Thappad. I don’t think we should stop reflecting or telling stories that put a mirror to ourselves and to the society.
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DIDN’T MEET MANU TO PREP FOR NO ONE KILLED JESSICA: ZEESHAN

Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; June 4, 2020)

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub made his film debut with No One Killed Jessica, in which he played a character based on Manu Sharma. He says he never met Manu to prepare for the role. “Raj Kumar Gupta had told me that he didn’t want me to meet the real convict, so I didn’t really prepare for the role and just acted raw. I just had two scenes in the film and a few shots. I focussed on two things for the role – the character didn’t speak English properly, and he had a Haryanvi tone. But after the movie, I never looked back or followed the case. Honestly, I never followed this case, neither before doing the film nor after.”