In its first 10 seconds, the trailer of Assi tells you a chilling statistic — that there are 80 reported rape cases in India every day. “That’s one every 20 minutes. By the time you finish this interview, one more would have happened,” director Anubhav Sinha told us, when we met him to discuss his upcoming film that sees Taapsee Pannu as a lawyer, who takes up the case of a sexual assault survivor, essayed by Kani Kusruti.

With Assi, Sinha aims to show how rape culture is rooted in patriarchy. More importantly, he wants to examine our society’s generational failure. “Mothers tell their daughters at 13 that this [sexual violence] may happen, and this is how you deal with it. But men don’t tell their sons about gender equality. We don’t tell them that you might be attracted to another person’s body, but you can’t snatch it,” he rued.

The director teamed up with Gaurav Solanki to write the social drama. Yet, they entered the writing process at a disadvantage. “Every time Gaurav and I went to write a scene, we were trying to think like a woman. That was the toughest part for me. I was watching a lot of films about women to understand women, to feel like one.”

Reuniting with Pannu after Thappad (2020) was a deliberate choice. The director knew she’d front the film for the right reasons. “I meet a lot of actors who want to be in my movies because they think they should want to be in a movie like that. That doesn’t work for me. You will see Taapsee’s honesty in her eyes. She walks the talk.”